Desperate Young Girl (La jeune desesperee)
1826 to 1850
Medium
etching and drypoint
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of George Matthew Adams in memory of his mother, Lydia Havens Adams
Accession Number
1955.12.38
Art Historical Context
Visitors to the National Gallery of Art will find Alphonse Legros's *Desperate Young Girl ( jeune désespérée)* a haunting highlight in the Prints collection (Department CG-E). Created between 1826 and 1850, this etching and drypoint exemplifies Legros's early mastery as a French Realist artist who later bridged French and British art worlds. The title evokes raw emotion, portraying a figure in profound distress—a theme resonant with 19th-century concerns over social hardship and human vulnerability. Legros, known for his meticulous printmaking, combined etching's sharp, acid-bitten lines with...
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...