Peasant Washing Her Feet (Paysanne se lavant les pieds)
1860
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
1952.10.25
Art Historical Context
In 1860, French artist Alphonse Legros the quiet dignity of rural life in *Peasant Washing Her Feet (aysanne se lavant pieds)*, a poignant etching and drypoint now housed in the National Gallery of Art Legros, a key figure in the Realist movement alongside Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, turned his gaze to the everyday struggles and humanity of peasants, reflecting mid-19th-century France social shifts amid industrialization. This intimate scene of a woman tending to her weary feet embodies Realism's commitment to unidealized truth, elevating ordinary labor to art. Legros masterfull...
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...