International studio (20.1903)

777 Af 7cow.y

New Gallery at the same time as that masterpiece,
the 7^W7MM 7*77 7)7*7'^, belonging to the Tate
Gallery. With English readers I have no need to
insist with regard to this painting, which is already
classic. One cannot conceive anything more gently
touching than this grand and pensive scene, where
all is on the same lofty level—sentiment, form
and execution. It is one of the most important
productions of modern art.
It will be noticed that subjects of a religious
nature abound in Legros' work: sometimes as
general, historical, biblical, or evangelical concep-
tions, such as the ^477zg7zi%? the
/'AYyzzAzz'ziyzz, the ^77/^77/ A*7Vi%j7Z77, or the
^077^ 7^ ZT^zifaz'zwz & AW.?7Z7z^, Ah
y^7W7;<7, or the C^7*A/; elsewhere in the
guise of popular compositions based on con-
temporary life: for example, the ^TTgyZM.r, the
,&% W%7, Ail777777M ^77 y57*7!?7^, the -5<777&fz'<rA'<777 7& /a
Tfiy, the &c., &c. Moreover, at the

outset people misunderstood his real character.
Some, like Champfleury, regarded him as a
" realist," at the very time when Baudelaire was
enrolling him among the " religious painters."
The actual truth, here as always and everywhere,
lies in the yzzzVz'gzz—midway between the two
opinions. To be exact, Legros belonged to the
movement started in France at the beginning of
the century, with Gericault at its head, and
definitely revived with Millet from 1847 in a more
highly significant sense, tending to give an expres-
sion of modern life at once formal and internal.
The Revolution of 1848, St. Simonism and other
" isms," the writings of Proudhon, and even the
doctrines of Auguste Comte had a very marked
effect on the artistic conscience. The " realism "
of Champfleury, the " modernism " of Baudelaire,
and the " positivism" of Courbet, if so I may
express it, furnish evidence of the fact. While
Millet was drawing the whole mystical soul from
out the life of the fields,
others sought to represent
not only the exterior but
the interior meaning of
the life of the humble
classes in the large and
small towns. Francois
Bonvin, Adolphe Leleu,
Armand Gautier, and
Alphonse Legros are the
best-known representatives
of this popular and
democratic form, which
is associated with the
common Calvinistic—one
would like to say Re-
publican—tradition of the
Dutch school, and in
France with the grand
solitary figures of Chardin
and the brothers Lenain.
The religious 77z<7AX with
Legros as with Bonvin,
is but a pretext for
associating with scenes
of real life something of
imagination and idealism.
For while he occasionally
went astray in his " his-
torical " subjects, to use
the adjective in its old
general sense, as a rule
he was attracted simply
by spectacles based on


STUDY FOR A FOUNTAIN FROM TIIE SEPIA DRAWING BY ALPHONSE LEGROS

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