The Death of the Vagabond
1855–77
Medium
Etching, aquatint and drypoint on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 53.8 × 38.1 cm (21 3/16 × 15 in.); Plate: 55.6 × 39.1 cm (21 15/16 × 15 7/16 in.); Sheet: 61.3 × 46.5 cm (24 3/16 × 18 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
53873
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, artist Alphonse Leg captured the poignant realities of marginalized lives in *The Death of the Vagond* (1855–77), a masterful print now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's and Drawings department. Legros, a key figure in Realism influenced by Gustave Courbet, turned his gaze to the struggles of society's outcasts, portraying a dying wanderer with unflinching empathy. This work reflects the era's social upheavals in France, where industrialization displaced rural poor, making vagabonds symbols of human vulnerability. Crafted through etching, aquatint, and drypoint...
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...