Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
Head of a Man
About the Artwork
This drawing, which appears to be a portrait at first glance, is difficult to categorize. Alphonse Legros created many such images while teaching in London, at the school of South Kensington and then at the Slade School, where he advised his students to directly copy the Old Masters. Legros combined depiction of live models with references to art of the past, as seen here. He used the thin lines of metalpoint for expressive means on this sheet.
Inscriptions
signed, upper right, in metalpoint: A. Legros [underlined] / 1886 (according to Butkin records, above the preceding there is an inscription, currently covered by the mount, that reads "à mon ami F. W. Burton"); verso of secondary support, lower left, in graphite: Le gros [sideways]
Provenance
by 1957-before 1967: T. Edward Hanley, Bradford, PA 1977-2008: Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 2008-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Alphonse Legros (French, 1837–1911)
- Date
- 1886
- Medium
- metalpoint
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 31.5 x 23 cm (12 3/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Accession no.
- 2008.392
More by Alphonse Legros in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011070
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