Vieil Espagnol
Translated as: Aged Spaniard
Printmaker: Legros, Alphonse
Half-length portrait of an old man seated in profile, facing left, his hands held together in his lap rolling rosary beads, a spanish cape known as a Pañosa worn around his shoulders.
The Ricketts and Shannon Collection. Bequeathed by Charles Shannon, 1937
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1937) by Shannon, Charles Haslewood
19th Century
1872
-
1876
Etching printed as chine-collé with surface tone onto laid paper with watermark: 'W. KING'. Signed on the plate at upper right: 'A. Legros'. Inscribed in graphite on the verso: '531/11' (an old location reference relating to the Ricketts and Shannon Bequest of 1937). The rosary beads are barely delineated, but their existence is described in Poulet-Malassis/Thibadeau: '... les mains roulent un chapelet ...'. The plate was first published in 1872 in the journal, _The Portfolio: an artistic periodical_ as an illustration to the third number in the series written by editor, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, 'Examples of Modern Etching / III - Alphonse Legros / _Aged Spaniard_' (_The Portfolio_, vol. 3, January 1872, London: Seeley, pp.36-7). Here, Hamerton described the effect of Legros's portrait: 'To me, this old man's face has a lasting fascination. In the late evening of his life he prays in saddened peace. Grave he is and serious, yet not miserable, not desolate. He has reached those quiet confines where earthly cares have ceased to agitate. What to him is the tumult of the outer world as he sits in silent prayer and the beads drop one by one?' The plate and text were re-issued in a collection of the series in 1876, appearing as number IX in the publication, _Examples of Modern Etching: twenty plates by Balfourier, Bodmer ... [et al.]_ / with notes by Philip Gilbert Hamerton (London: Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, pp.17-19). This third state can be identified by the horizontal line just visible across the collar of the cape (cf. Boston Public Library, Frank E. Bliss collection, 07_09_000068). The two previous states listed in the Bliss catalogue [Dodgson (Legros)] display varying degrees of accidental lines which, in the first state, include two horizontal lines across the width of the plate above the head and a semi-circular line which touches the end of the mouth (these lines are described in Poulet-Malassis/Thibadeau). There are impressions of first and second states in the Bliss collection at Boston Public Library; 07_09_000066 and 07_09_000067. The laid paper support of this impression is unlike the wove stock used for the proofs published in The Portfolio. P.16-2019 is another impression of the third state printed onto heavy wove paper.
Support
composed of
laid paper
Plate
Height 275 mm
Width 187 mm
Sheet
Height 365 mm
Width 261 mm
Etching
: Chine collé etching with surface tone
Surface tone
Chine collé
Inscription present: inscription
Accession number: P.92-1937
Primary reference Number: 3234
Dodgson (Legros): 21.III
Poulet-Malassis / Thibaudeau: 21
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Vieil Espagnol" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/3234 Accessed: 2024-04-19 10:47:11
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/3234
|title=Vieil Espagnol
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-19 10:47:11|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-3234
Accession Number: P.108-1991
Accession Number: P.297-1945
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...
