Wheelwright's Home (La maison du charron)
1874
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1874
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Wheelwright's Home (La maison du charron) is a 1874 ink by Alphonse Legros, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a quiet hillside scene with a small house tucked under a steep slope. The artist used quick, scratchy lines to draw the rocky ground, trees, and a fence. A lone figure stands near the house, but their face is blurred. The rough texture comes from the artist’s tools—tiny scratches in the metal plate made the ink stick in a way that mimics real roughness. This was a common trick in the 1800s. Next, look up etching, drypoint, aquatint to see how these techniques work.
