International studio (18.1902/1903)

'*nr*'HE ETCHED WORK OF
[ ALPHONSE LEGROS. BY
WALTER SHAW SPARROW.
THERE are many good anecdotes in the hreside
talk of Mr. Legros, and there is one among them
that iliustrates very well the lack of appreciation
that his learned and austere greatness has ever met
with from the general public. In 1861, the fourth
year of his struggle as a painter-etcher, he calied
one day upon his printer in Paris, eager to see and
to criticise some new proofs; but, if men propose,
women dispose. Mr. Legros met the printer's wife,
a lady with a good heart, a direct tongue, and a
womanly liking for the successes won by men of
common-place talent; and this good lady was so
pained by Mr. Legros' originality, and so sure of his
failing to make a name, that she feit called upon
to put him on his guard against the perils of his
aileged yw.% in etching. She was pleased
neither with his subjects nor with his methods;
this she toid him without the least hesita-
tion, in a sort of thunderclap of sincerity;
"And, Monsieur," she added, "I amnot
certain that anyone in Paris iikes your
etchings — except Miilet, Jean Frangois
MiHet." " Does Miliet like them ?"
cried the young Legros, astonished and
delighted. " Then, Madame, I am more
than satished, beiieve me." And the iady
did beiieve him, for she put on an air
of reproachful resignation.
This little scene—or one very much
like it—took piace, as I have said, in
1861, when Mr. Legros was twenty-four
years old. That was the year in which,
with the help of Cadart, the publisher,
he set on foot the Societe de l'Eau-Forte,
adding to the list of members the names
of Bracquemond, Fantin-Latour, Jacque-
mart, Bonvin, Manet, and Seymour
Haden. It was aiso in 1861 that twenty-
four of his etched sketches (*
were pubiished together by
Cadart, so it is clear that Miliet was not
the oniy man who had faith in the young
etcher's daring ability.
In fact, Mr. Legros had aiready found
some good friends among the better-
judging critics and connoisseurs. It
would have been an odd thing indeed
had he failed to win some hearty recogni-
tion and encouragement, for the genius
shown in some of his eariy plates cannot
XVIII. No. 72. —FEBRUARY, 1903.

be passed in silence by anyone who wouid deai
fairiy with the masterpieces of etching produced
in the nineteenth century. Baudelaire, a critic
of quick discernment, recognised this fact as
soon as the etchings appeared, just as he recog-
nised at a first glance the puissant originaiity
of Meryon, of Rethel, and of Daumier. He
had always a great admiration for anyone
who, in the face of a jeering opposition from
the public, kept boldly to a chosen path in
art; and it was the joy of Baudelaire's life
to be an enthusiastic champion. He took
Legros by the hand, cheered him in his
poverty, spoke of him everywhere, wrote of him in
the Press; and you may be sure that he did not
forget to make his protegd an admirer of Edgar
Poe's stories, so admirably done into French by
Baudelaire himself. Encouraged by all this friend-
ship, Legros worked on with energy and pluck,
giving a free rein to his imagination; and he was
able to prove that even the horror and alarm in


EARLY BORTRAIT OF A. LEGROS FROM THE ETCHING
./VL -272, THzTY? .57^/6'
245