Legros, Alphonse (1837–1911)

French painter, etcher, and sculptor. His landscapes and views of peasant life combine acute observation and a mood of sombre religious piety. In this he was strongly influenced by the realism of Gustave Courbet and Jean François Millet.

In his graphic works, which were strongly influenced by medieval German art, Legros brought to his characteristic lyricism an element of sombre fantasy.

Legros was born in Dijon. In his early years he worked in Paris as a scene painter and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He first exhibited at the Salon 1857 with My Father (Museum of Fine Art, Tours). Having come to England at the suggestion of the US painter James Whistler 1863, he was professor of art at University College, London, 1875–92.