Portrait of G. F. Watts, R.A.
1879
Medium
Etching on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 18.5 × 13.4 cm (7 5/16 × 5 5/16 in.); Sheet: 31.1 × 24.2 cm (12 1/4 × 9 9/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
46198
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century British printmaking with Alphonse Legros' *Portrait of G. F Watts, R.A.* (1879). French-born Legros, a figure in London's etching revival, captures fellow artist George Frederic Watts, a Academician celebrated for his grand allegorical paintings and symbolic depth. Created during a vibrant era when artists like Watts embodied Victorian idealism, this etching reflects the cross-channel artistic exchanges that enriched British culture, as Legros bridged French Realism with London's Slade School, where he taught. Rendered in etching on luxurious ivory...
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...