1874
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Seated Beggar (Mendiant assis) is a 1874 ink by Alphonse Legros, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a hunched-over person wrapped in a heavy coat, sitting with their head tilted back. Their hands rest on their knees, and the lines of their face and clothing are drawn with quick, tangled strokes. The background is mostly empty, with just a few faint marks suggesting a chair or wall. The artist used a technique that layers lines to build up dark and light areas—no smooth shading, just crisscrossed marks. This makes the figure look both rough and deeply felt. Next, look up etching, drypoint to see how artists create these kinds of textures.
Alphonse Legros (French pronunciation: ; 8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist.
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