International studio (18.1902/1903)

Poe's stories could be transferred from tbe printed
page to an etched plate. Does anyone doubt the
truth of this ? If so, then he should try to hnd
means of seeing the six iHustrations etched for
Baudelaire by Legros in 1861. These illustrations
were not pubiished, and they are now so rare that
I have been able to study them only in small
photographs; and yet, in spite of that, they recail
vividty to mind the nightmare-Iike genius of the
stories which inspired them. Yes, but something
else rnust be said about these etchings after Edgar
Poe. Although astonishingly good in their own
way, as interpretations of an exceptional author's
haunting merits, they must yet be accepted with
some reserve; one cannot quite regard them as
unforced products of Mr. Legros' own growth, for

they were undertaken as a A7M7* </<!in deliberate
rivalry with another's genius; and hence they stand
somewhat apart from those of his early etchings
which reveal most intimately, in subjects freely
chosen for their own sake, the natural bent and
development of his mind. We may take the -Z?M//%
77/N/. AhMrA (No. g6, in three states), the
Ar'7^7-j (No. 59, in hve states), the C/%M7-
(No. go, in two states), the .P7WM.SW72 777 rz 6^(7777'^
CZ?rr-(r/% (No. 49, in six states), the &*. yi?7W72<7 (No.
g8), the C(777M/M^77/'/ fLh/^ (No. 68, a drypoint
in two states), the (777777777777/7/77 777 /Ar C%777-<r/% (7/C/.
A/Ma7-</ (No. g4, two states), and the YTwM.M'7777
7*7^7-7777^ /Z<7 Lhrr/A^C/. yk%/777-</ (No. 48).
The last work, repeated in seven variants or
states, may be described as a kind of bas-relief in
etching, for all the women
are grouped in a line on
one plane, just as they
would be in a bas-relief
frieze; and it is to be
noted also that this formal
arrangement of the design
is emphasised by its being
brought into sharp con-
trast with a most careful
display of pure realism
in the women's stunted
hgures, in their poor
empty faces, in their
hideous crinolines and
Hounces, and their gro-
tesque make - believe of
shabby-genteel fashions.
AII this, put in ruggedly
but with a kind hand, is
a memorable study from
the life of the Parisian
poor, pitifully mean, no
doubt, detestable in ugli-
ness, yet full of truth and
full of pathos. Alas that
the dignity of human
nature should be thus
humbled and lost among
the poor in vast cities
—cities built by many
centuries of progress !
But apart from this,
let me note, theJYwr^.s'rw?
r*/%7-(77r,g7% //%;? Larr/A (7/ N/.
A//(/(77-(/ is remarkable,
being the one important
etching in the first series

!


PORTRAIT OF VICTOR HUGO, (V/. &rc/7(/8'7(Z7<7 FROM THE ETCHtNG
BY ALPHONSE LEGROS

246