Paysanne Assise près d'une Haie (A Country Woman Seated Near a Hedge)
Summary
This rural landscape is depicted in quite a free, loose style as the line-work is used to evoke the different textures of the vegetation and the movement of the wind. This is particularly evident in the top left-hand corner where diagonal lines are used to suggest the direction of the wind. In the middle ground, emphasising the distinction between the ground and the sky is a fence with three hedges growing along it. On the right-hand side there is a single tree breaking up the view of the sky in the distance. The only figure in the landscape is a solitary woman who is sitting on a slope in the foreground in front of the fence and slightly to the right of centre. She is wearing a long dress with a headscarf and lying on the ground to the left of her is a long rake. Although she is facing the viewer she is not engaging with the viewer as her body is hunched over and she seems to be looking at the ground instead. Alphonse Legros began etching in Paris in the early 1860s and was a founder member of the Societe des Aquafortistes. On the advice of Whistler he moved to London and from 1875-1882 he directed the Engravers' Class of South Kensington Art School. Legros produced nearly 700 plates in his career with most of his etchings printed in three or four states. As a teacher, he had a considerable influence on the development of English etching.
Object Name
Paysanne Assise près d'une Haie (A Country Woman Seated Near a Hedge)
Creators Name
Date Created
1860
Dimensions
plate mark: 12.7cm x 17.1cm
support: 16.1cm x 22.6cm
accession number
1965.247
Collection Group
Place of creation
Europe
Support
paper
Medium
ink (black)
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