Drawings by Alphonse Legros (1837-1911)

Alphonse Legros
Self Portrait
ca. 1870
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alphonse Legros
Head of a Man facing left
before 1911
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Head of a Man looking up
ca. 1890
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Half Length Study of a Model
before 1911
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Seated Model
before 1911
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

"His arrival [that of Alphonse Legros] at the Slade [School of Art in London] was stage-managed by [Prof. E.J.] Poynter, a friend since their student days in Paris, who had in 1875 secured for him an etching class at the National Art-Training Schools in South Kensington. The following year he persuaded the Slade Committee to permit Legros to take over temporarily some of his duties as Slade Professor, and when he resigned his position later that year Legros was allowed to succeed him, despite opposition from some quarters on the grounds that he was a foreigner and that his command of English was far from good. He was to become a British citizen in 1881, but his English did not improve, and most of his teaching was of necessity in the form of demonstration rather than verbal instruction. His skilful painting of a head once a term before the entire school became 'a momentous event' in the curriculum. This method of instruction did not suit all students, and his shrewd estimate of his pupils' abilities combined with his unwillingness to 'compromise with the singleness of purpose that should guide an artist in his career' led him to neglect his less gifted or committed students. One of these wrote ruefully, 'Legros was not a stimulating teacher for the ordinary, undistinguished student.' His exacting standards, his blunt manner and his habit of seizing his chalk and drawing his corrections all over the students' carefully prepared work was guaranteed to offend many susceptibilities. But others, such as Charles Holroyd and William Strang, who both became his assistants for a time, responded well to his tuition, and with many his personality commanded great respect, as did his ability to stimulate their artistic appreciation and to impress on them the seriousness of their calling."

"In 1892 Legros resigned from the Slade . . . his last years at the School were marked by an increasing disillusionment with teaching in general. His visits to his students became less frequent. Archibald Hatrick, who arrived at the School in 1888, recalled 'his somewhat rare rounds of the classes,' and Alfred Thornton, also at the School towards the end of the decade, remembered that Legros was by now 'a little weary of teaching.' His eventual departure was precipitated by a number of complaints, including that of an angry father who claimed that his daughter 'appears to me to get hardly any teaching at all.'"

– from an article by Philip Atwood in the British Numismatics Journal (1986)

Alphonse Legros
Study of the Belvedere Torso
before 1892
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alphonse Legros
Study of the Belvedere Torso
before 1892
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alphonse Legros
Study from the Antique
before 1911
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Study of the Head of a Horse from the Parthenon
(Elgin Marbles, British Museum)
1898
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Head of a Man
before 1911
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Alphonse Legros
Study of a Model
before 1892
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alphonse Legros
Study of a Model
before 1892
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alphonse Legros
Study of a Model
before 1892
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

David Wilkie Wynfield
Portrait of Alphonse Legros
ca. 1865-70
albumen print
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) - Earlier Work

Abraham Bloemaert
Venus appeals to Cupid to induce Pluto to fall in love with Proserpina
ca. 1591-94
drawing
National Galleries of Scotland

Abraham Bloemaert
Apollo and Diana slaying the Children of Niobe
1591
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Abraham Bloemaert
Mercury, Argus, and Io
ca. 1592
oil on canvas
Centraal Museum, Utrecht

Abraham Bloemaert
Miracle of the Loaves
1593
oil on canvas, mounted on panel
National Galleries of Scotland

Abraham Bloemaert
Baptism of Christ
1595
oil on canvas
National Trust, Ham House, Surrey

"Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) – Dutch figure and landscape painter and engraver, the son of sculptor and architect Cornelis Bloemaert the Elder (ca. 1540-1593).  Abraham Bloemaert spent most of his life in Utrecht, where for many years he was the leading painter and an outstanding teacher.  Both Gerrit van Honthorst and Hendrick ter Brugghen – and virtually all the Utrecht painters of the period who attained any kind of distinction – trained with him.   Bloemaert was a good learner, as well as a good teacher, and rapidly assimilated the new ideas his pupils brought back from Italy.  Early in his career he was one of the leading Dutch exponents of Mannerism [selections in this current post].  In the 1620s he had a Caravaggesque phase; and in his later years adopted some aspects of the classicism of the Carracci [selections in the following post].  Many of Bloemaert's drawings were etched and published by his son Frederick (ca. 1616-1690) in an instructional book for the use of art students (it first appeared ca. 1650 and continued to be reprinted into the 19th century).  Abraham Bloemaert had three other painter sons, who were likewise his pupils: Hendrick (ca. 1601-1672), Cornelis the Younger (ca. 1603-1684), and Adriaen (ca. 1609-1666)." 

– excerpted from The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists 

Abraham Bloemaert
Joseph and his Brothers
ca. 1595-1600
oil on canvas
Centraal Museum, Utrecht

Abraham Bloemaert
Marriage of Cupid and Psyche
ca. 1595
oil on panel
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Abraham Bloemaert
Moses striking the Rock
1596
oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Abraham Bloemaert
Raising of Lazarus
ca. 1600-1605
oil on canvas
Manchester Art Gallery

Abraham Bloemaert
The Prodigal Son
1615
oil on canvas
Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum

Abraham Bloemaert
Landscape with the Prophet Elijah in the Desert
ca. 1610-20
oil on canvas
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Abraham Bloemaert
Study of Tree
1590s
drawing
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Abraham Bloemaert
St Roch
ca. 1600-1610
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Abraham Bloemaert
The Four Evangelists writing the Gospels around a Table
ca. 1612-15
drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Abraham Bloemaert
The Four Evangelists writing the Gospels around a Table
ca. 1612-15
oil on canvas
Princeton University Art Museum

Pieter Lastman (Teacher of Rembrandt)

Pieter Lastman
Ruins of the Forum of Nerva, Rome
1606
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

"July 11, 2012 – Acquisition – Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum – At the Christie's London auction of old master drawings in early July, the Rijksmuseum  purchased a landscape drawing by Pieter Lastman, Rembrandt's master, representing Nerva's forum seen from the temple of Minerva, dating from 1606 during his stay in Rome which took place between 1603 and 1607.  There is only one other view of Rome by the artist which is known today, the Palatine Hill [directly below], also dated 1606 and currently held in a private collection."

– from the defunct online journal, La Tribune de l'Art

Pieter Lastman
View of the Palatine Hill
1606
drawing
private collection (Cologne, Germany)

Pieter Lastman
Adoration of the Shepherds 
(after painting by Paolo Veronese copied in Venice)
ca. 1606
drawing
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

"The only other other surviving drawing by Lastman from his time in Italy is a copy after a painting by Paolo Veronese, The Adoration of the Shepherds.  The painting hung in the chapel of the Church of the Crociferi in Venice, but is now in San Giovanni e Paolo.  Like many artists, Lastman probably visited Venice on his way back north.  . . .   There are no paintings and only three known drawings by Lastman dating from the period before his visit to Italy: Hagar in the Wilderness of 1601 and two drawings [directly below] of a Standing Oriental figure in a landscape of 1603.  They reveal the Mannerist drawing style of his teacher Gerrit Pieteresz.  The drawings from Italy are quite different; the style is simpler and the swelling and tapering pen strokes have been replaced by a more regular pattern of fine lines, short strokes and small dots.  This style was influenced by other Dutch and Flemish artists working in Rome, of whom Paul Bril was the most prominent." 

– Peter Schatborn, from the catalogue of a 2001 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, published in English as Drawn to Warmth: 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, translated by Lynne Richards

Pieter Lastman
Standing Oriental figure in a landscape
1603
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pieter Lastman
Standing Oriental figure in a landscape
1603
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pieter Lastman
Study of a bearded and turbaned man carrying a chest
ca. 1625-30
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Pieter Lastman
Half-length study of nude model
before 1633
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Claes Jansz Visscher after Pieter Lastman
Dress of Venetian Ladies
(from series of Italian Costumes)
before 1633
etching
British Museum

Claes Jansz Visscher after Pieter Lastman
Dress of a noble couple of Florence
(from series of Italian Costumes)
before 1633
etching
British Museum

Pieter Lastman
Design for a Ewer
(Cupid on neck, Lobsters below,
with men and women bathing in the centre)
ca. 1610
etching
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

"The son of a goldsmith, Pieter Lastman became known as one of the most important artists of his day for his ability to paint small cabinet pictures.  At the age of nineteen, Lastman went to Italy, where he spent five years.  After he returned to his native Amsterdam, his painting style exhibited striking changes.  He began to use strong contrasts of light and shade that intensified the drama of the scene and to specialize in narrative subjects from the Bible, mythology, and Roman history.  His reform of history painting in Amsterdam in the 1600s – presenting well-characterized figures at the dramatic climax of a story – and his role as Rembrandt's teacher ensured his fame during his lifetime.  His paintings commanded high prices, and his name was mentioned as one of Amsterdam's most important painters in a 1618 hymn celebrating the arts of the city."

– curator's notes from the Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Pieter Lastman
Triumph of Sesostris
1631
oil on panel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Pieter Lastman
Orestes and Pylades disputing at the altar
1614
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pieter Lastman
Odysseus and Nausicaa
1619
oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Pieter Lastman
Juno discovering Jupiter with Io
1618
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Pieter Lastman
The Angel and Tobias with the Fish
ca. 1610-20
oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Pieter Lastman
Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah
1611
oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"The Book of Tobit, part of the Roman Catholic Bible, recounts the story of Tobias, whose guardian angel, Raphael, guides him through the trials of his life.  Following the angel's advice, Tobias burns the heart and liver of a giant fish in order to drive off a demon who threatens his life on his wedding night.  From the bed Sarah watches her husband with concern, as Raphael wrestles with the demon overhead.  The legend of Tobias would become a favorite subject of Lastman's most famous pupil, Rembrandt."

– curator's notes from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Allies and Affiliates of the Art World

William Henry Toms after Egbert van Heemskerck II
Satire on Art Auctions, set in a saleroom at night
ca. 1732
etching, engraving
British Museum

Poem 788

Publication – is the Auction
Of the Mind of Man –
Poverty – be justifying
For so foul a thing

Possibly – but We – would rather
From Our Garret go
White – unto the White Creator –
Than invest – Our Snow –

Thought belong to Him who gave it –
Then – to Him Who bear
Its Corporeal illustration – sell
The Royal Air –

In the Parcel – Be the Merchant
Of the Heavenly Grace –
But reduce no Human Spirit
To Disgrace of Price –

– Emily Dickinson (1863)

William Sharp
Trade-card for J. Clough, Drawing Master
before 1824
hand-colored etching, engraving, letterpress
British Museum

Hippolyte Bellangé
Old and ragged artist praising his young student's work
1823
lithograph
British Museum

from The Connoisseur

If my father had praised me a little when I climbed the tree,
If when I swam the stream he hadn't looked away,
Maybe I wouldn't need your praise now
When I tell you what the still lifes of Cézanne
Say about pears and pitchers, tables and tablecloths.
You could believe or disbelieve. I'd be happy enough
Making my point with a graceful gesture under the grey eyes
Of eternity, eyes like my own, but colder and more removed.

Maybe my father was trying to prepare me for the world
Where no one listens and hadn't learned what a hardy bloomer
The heart is if watered early. Not watered then,
It never gets enough, though replanted near a waterfall.

– Carl Dennis (1983)

Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale
The Painter submitting his Picture
to the Examination of Connoisseurs and Antiquarians
1774
etching, engraving
British Museum

William Roberts
The Critic Intervenes
before 1953
watercolor
British Museum

Walter Sickert
Vision, Volumes and Recession
(Portrait of Roger Fry lecturing on Art)
1928-29
etching
British Museum

Émile Friant
Portrait of a man admiring a painting on an easel
1900
drawing
British Museum

Isaac Cruikshank
Octagon Room in the Royal Academy hung with paintings, viewed by connoisseurs
ca. 1790-99
watercolor
British Museum

Adriaan de Lelie
Art Gallery of Jan Gildemeester Jansz in Amsterdam, viewed by connoisseurs
1794-95
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum

from Chinese Whispers

And in a little while we broke under the strain:
suppurations ad nauseam, the wanting to be taller,
though it's simply about being mysterious, i.e., not taller,
like any tree in any forest.
                                            Mute, the pancake describes you.
It had tiny roman numerals embedded in its rim.
It was a pancake clock. They had 'em in those days,
always getting smaller, which is why they finally became extinct.
It was a hundred years before anyone noticed.
                                                                         The governor general
called it "sinuous." But we, we had other names for it,
knew it was going to be around for a long time,
even though extinct. And sure as shillelaghs fall from trees
onto frozen doorsteps, it came round again
when all memory of it had been expunged
                                                              from the common brain.
Everybody wants to try one of those new pancake clocks.

                                  *                         *                     *

The trees, the barren trees, have been described more than once.
Always they are taller, it seems, and the river passes them
without noticing. We, too, are taller,
our ceilings higher, our walls more tinctured
with telling frescoes, our dooryards both airier and vaguer,
according as time passes and weaves its minute deceptions in and out,
a secret thread.
Peace is a full stop.
And though we had some chance of slipping past the blockade,
now only time will consent to have anything to do with us,
for what purpose we do not know.

– John Ashbery (2001)

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
View of Palazzo Salviati-Mancini on the Corso
(site of the French Academy in Rome)
ca. 1760-78
etching
British Museum

Jules Joseph Guillaume Bourdet
Baker delivering bread to an artist in his studio, and criticizing the pictures 
(croûte was slang for a badly-painted piece of work)
ca. 1829-36
hand-colored lithograph
British Museum

Antoine Gaymard after Ernest Meissonier
A Painter in his Studio with Admirers
1922
color mezzotint
British Museum

attributed to Salomon De Bray
Frame-maker's Shop
1646
watercolor
British Museum

attributed to Salomon De Bray
Frame-maker's Shop
1646
watercolor
British Museum