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Studies of Hands

Alphonse Legros French and British
1880–92
Not on view
Legros, who is best remembered today for his etchings and drawings, is among the few nineteenth-century artists to have worked in metalpoint, a process in which a metal stylus is used to draw on prepared, slightly roughened paper, thereby rubbing off tiny shards of metal and leaving behind delicate silvery lines. Jan van Eyck and Leonardo da Vinci made some of the most beautiful drawings of the Renaissance using this technique, and Legros pays tribute to the Old Masters as much in his choice of metalpoint as in the clarity and simplicity of his style. The hands seen in this sheet are probably his own, studied in a mirror. The drawing is a part of a group of thirty-two given by the artist to the Museum in 1892, in gratitude for which he was made an Honorary Fellow.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Studies of Hands
  • Artist: Alphonse Legros (French, Dijon 1837–1911 Watford, Hertfordshire)
  • Date: 1880–92
  • Medium: Metalpoint on prepared paper
  • Dimensions: 9 3/16 x 13 1/4 in. (23.4 x 33.7 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of the artist, 1892
  • Object Number: 92.13.10
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study of a Head, Alphonse Legros French and British, Graphite on gray paper
Study of a Head
Alphonse Legros
1837–1911
Study from a Cast
Alphonse Legros
1837–1911
Portrait of William Cawthorne Unwin, Alphonse Legros French and British, Etching
Portrait of William Cawthorne Unwin
Alphonse Legros
William Cawthorne Unwin
1892
Impression from a name plate for Edward D. Adams, Alphonse Legros French and British, Etching
Impression from a name plate for Edward D. Adams
Alphonse Legros
ca. 1892
Sketch for a Nameplate for Edward D. Adams, Alphonse Legros French and British, Pen and brown ink, graphite
Sketch for a Nameplate for Edward D. Adams
Alphonse Legros
1892

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