This sensitive head study in metal point delineating the features of Louis Alphonse Legros, the artist's young son, is among Alphonse Legros's early forays into drawing with metal point on prepared paper. This technique became more prevalent in his oeuvre after his 1893 retirement from the Slade School of Art in London. This interest in a medium that was popular among early Renaissance artists was part of a larger revival of historical materials, and metal points in particular, that occurred in London toward the end of the century.
Signed and dated at upper left, A. Legros / 1889"; Inscribed on verso in a later hand in pencil, "Portrait of L. A. Legros by A. Legros".
Watermark: none.
Magriel, Paul, 1906-1990, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 357.