Studio: international art (27.1903)

Alphonse Legros

THE ETCHED WORK OF be passed in silence by anyone who would deal
ALPHONSE LEGROS. BY fairly with the masterpieces of etching produced
WALTER SHAW SPARROW xn tne nineteenth century. Baudelaire, a critic
of quick discernment, recognised this fact as
There are many good anecdotes in the fireside soon as the etchings appeared, just as he recog-
talk of Mr. Legros, and there is one among them nised at a first glance the puissant originality
that illustrates very well the lack of appreciation of Meryon, of Rethel, and of Daumier. He
that his learned and austere greatness has ever met had always a great admiration for anyone
with from the general public. In 1861, the fourth who, in the face of a jeering opposition from
year of his struggle as a painter-etcher, he called the public, kept boldly to a chosen path in
one day upon his printer in Paris, eager to see and art; and it was the joy of Baudelaire's life
to criticise some new proofs; but, if men propose, to be an enthusiastic champion. He took
women dispose. Mr. Legros met the printer's wife, Legros by the hand, cheered him in his
a lady with a good heart, a direct tongue, and a poverty, spoke of him everywhere, wrote of him in
womanly liking for the successes won by men of the Press; and you may be sure that he did not
common-place talent; and this good lady was so forget to make his protege an admirer of Edgar
pained by Mr. Legros' originality, and so sure of his Poe's stories, so admirably done into French by
failing to make a name, that she felt called upon Baudelaire himself. Encouraged by all this friend-
to put him on his guard against the perils of his ship, Legros worked on with energy and pluck,
alleged faux pas in etching. She was pleased giving a free rein to his imagination; and he was
neither with his subjects nor with his methods; able to prove that even the horror and alarm in
this she told him without the least hesita-
tion, in a sort of thunderclap of sincerity;
"And, Monsieur," she added, " I am not HUSHi
certain that anyone in Paris likes your

sk-

etchings— except Millet, Jean Francois
Millet." "Does Millet like them?"
cried the young Legros, astonished and
delighted. " Then, Madame, I am more
than satisfied, believe me." And the lady
did believe him, for she put on an air
of reproachful resignation.

This little scene—or one very much
like it—took place, 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 also in 1861 that twenty-
four of his etched sketches (Esquisses a
reau-forte) were published together by
Cadart, so it is clear that Millet was not
the only man who had faith in the young
etcher's daring ability.

In fact, Mr. Legros had already 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

• r,. , ° early portrait of a. legros from the etching

shown in some of his early plates cannot No. SI2> Third State

XXVII. No. 118.—January, 1903. 245