Sketch for a Nameplate for Edward D. Adams
1892
Medium
Pen and brown ink, graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 11/16 × 9 9/16 in. (29.7 × 24.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Edward D. Adams, 1921
Accession Number
21.33.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
Alphonse Legros, a French-born artist who became a pivotal figure in British art circles, created this delicate *Sketch for a Nameplate for Edward. Adams* in 1892. Working in pen and brown ink over graphite on a sheet measuring 11 11/16 × 9 9/16 inches, Legros crafted a preparatory design rich with ornamental motifs—cartouches, expressive faces, and insignia—that evoke the grandeur of late 19th-century decorative arts. As a master etcher and Realist influenced by Rembrandt, Legros brought his precision to this functional yet artistic commission for Edward D. Adams, a prominent American financi...
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...