Returning with the Hay (Rentrant le foin)
1890/1904
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
1950.4.34
Art Historical Context
**Returning with the Hay (Rentrant le foin)**, created by Alphonse Legros between 1890 and 1904, captures the quiet rhythm of rural life through the intimate medium of etching and drypoint. Legros, a French-born artist who became a pivotal figure in British art after settling in London in 1863, was renowned for his masterful printmaking. A professor at the Slade School of Fine Art, he championed Realism while drawing inspiration from old masters like Rembrandt, blending everyday scenes with profound technical depth. This print exemplifies Legros' etching prowess: the process begins with acid ...
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...