Corner of a Wood (Coin d'un bois)
1877/1887
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. George Matthew Adams
Accession Number
1974.7.1
Art Historical Context
Alphonse Legros' *Corner of a Wood ( d'un bois)*, between 1877 and1887, invites visitors into a serene glimpse of nature through the intimate medium of etching. A French-born artist who became a pivotal figure in British art after settling in London in 1863, Legros was a Realist influenced by Gustave Courbet. His works often celebrated the everyday beauty of landscapes and rural life, blending precise observation with subtle emotional depth. This etching Legros' technical prowess in printmaking, a technique he championed during the 19th-century revival of graphic arts. By incising lines into ...
About the Artist
Alphonse Legros · 1837–1911
Alphonse Legros (1837–1911) was born in Dijon, France, and trained in Paris at the drawing school of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose unconventional teaching method — which emphasised memory drawing and acute observation over academic convention — would leave a lasting mark on Legros's practice. At Lecoq's school he formed friendships with Jules Dalou and Auguste Rodin that endured throughout hi...