Alphonse Legros

1837 - 1911

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Le Matin sur la Rivière

Original etching.

Very good signed proof impression.

£285

Bord de la Marne

Original etching and drypoint.

Beautiful impression printed with plate tone.

£235

Paysage de Tourbières (dans les marais)

Original etching with drypoint.

Excellent signed proof impression of this small yet beautifully expressive landscape etching.

£215

Portrait of Sir Seymour Haden 1881

Original mezzotint.

Beautiful impression the soft, rich blacks of the mezzotint burr printing dark and strong. A very fine example of this powerful portrait.

SOLD

Sir Charles Holroyd c.1889

Original etching with drypoint.

Superb first state proof impression, before the reduction in size of the plate and before the initials at the upper left corner were removed and replaced by the signature of Alphonse Legros in the title space.

SOLD

Le Mur du Presbytère

Original drypoint.

Beautiful signed proof impression with rich drypoint burr.

SOLD

Portrait of Longfellow c.1872

Original lithograph.

Excellent signed proof impression printed on toned India paper. From the only edition of 55 signed proofs.
This superb portrait of Longfellow is one of the few examples of Alphonse Legros’s work in lithography later in his life.

SOLD

Le Long de la Rive

Original etching with drypoint.

Very fine signed proof impression of this archetypal Legros landscape. This is a comparatively scarce drypoint by Legros – no impression was available for the comprehensive exhibition of the printed works of Legros in Paris in 1904 (Soulier).

SOLD

Chailli: Effet d’Orage

Original etching and drypoint.

One of only 16 signed proofs printed in Bliss’s third state of the plate. From Alphonse Legros’s own private collection; subsequently in the collection of Frank E. Bliss, author of the leading catalogue on the printed works of Alphonse Legros.

SOLD

Paysage

Original etching.

One of only 20 signed proofs printed in the eighth state of the plate (39 in total).
From the collection of Frank E. Bliss, author of the leading catalogue on the printed works of Alphonse Legros.

SOLD

Portrait of Lord Tennyson c.1880

Original lithograph.

Very rare original lithograph by Alphonse Legros. Malassis & Thibaudeau were unable to locate an impression of this work for their comprehensive exhibition of Legros’s work in 1904.

SOLD

Le Départ pour la Pêche, dans les Brumes c.1890

Original etching.

Very fine signed proof impression of this delicate etching. One of only 10 impressions printed in the completed state of the plate (six impressions only had been printed in the preceding state).

SOLD

La Tour au Pigeons

Original etching with drypoint.

Beautiful signed proof impression with burr to the drypoint line.

SOLD

Repos au bord de la Rivière

Original etching and drypoint.

Very rare. One of only 2 early proof impressions printed in the first state of the plate. From the Knowles collection, and from the collection of Frank E. Bliss, author of the leading catalogue on the printed works of Alphonse Legros.

SOLD

Alphonse Legros was the single most influential European printmaker upon the development of the etching revival in England. Born in Dijon, Alphonse Legros was pursuaded to move to London by Whistler, whom he had met in Paris. Legros rapidly achieved recognition for his highly accomplished etchings and in 1875 was placed in charge of the etching class at the Royal College in South Kensington and the following year was made Professor of Fine Art at the influential Slade School. It was during his eighteen years in this post that Alphonse Legros was to exert a formidable influence upon the direction of an entire generation of British printmakers.

Not only did Alphonse Legros propound a light, uncomplicated style of etching, but he brought with him certain French concepts of art which were in total contrast to the heavily worked genre art of Victorian England. Alphonse Legros’ artistic development had stemmed, almost entirely, from his formative years in France prior to 1863, during which time the Barbizon school of artists were ascendant in original etching. It is their sense of open air landscape, together with a naturalistic handling of light, which Alphonse Legros introduced to English etching and which is crutial to his importance in the history of original printmaking. [more]