Les Pêcheurs d'écrevisses

(The Fishers of Crayfish)

Alphonse Legros

Etching and drypoint in black ink on off-white paper with extensive brown plate tone; 19 ½ x 15 ⅞ inches (49.5 x 40.2 cm) – plate mark..

Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession no. CAI.802

This etching exists in three states. This impression shows two figures in a wooded landscape by a stream. A man is leaning forward at the water’s edge catching crayfish while a woman stands behind with a basket over her left arm ready to receive the catch. The trees in the centre are much more the focus of the work than are the figures, which are purely supplementary to the landscape.

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