Portrait of Edward John Poynter. Etching and drypoint in black ink on off-white paper, 1876; 10 3/16 x 6⅞inches (25.8 x 17.4 cm) – plate mark
Legros exhibited this etching at the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in London in 1881, no. 354. It exists in four states but only two or three impressions are known of the first state and the second state is also very rare. This particular impression was published in The Portfolio in January 1877 on page 12. Phillip Gilbert Hamerton, the editor of the publication, commented on how this this etching came to be published: “Many readers of the Portfolio who know Mr. Poynter’s works will value this representation of him by the friendly hand of M. Legros. A friendly hand, we say, but not a flattering one, for the intellectual and earnest style of portraiture to which the work of M. Legros belongs excludes the artifices which make flattery possible. Nevertheless, the etching before us made a very deep impression on artists who saw the first proofs of it, and although the portrait was not originally commissioned for the Portfolio, we are glad to secure the plate at once, in its absolutely unpublished state, for the benefit of our subscribers” (11).
In the first proof of the plate the drawing of the jacket was much more elaborate, but in the final state this was simply left as a triangle of blank white which acts as a focal point to the head. The Poynter portrait was the first etching by Legros to use a background of horizontal hatched lines. Colvin has commented on Legros’s use of this technique that he learned from the Old Masters of the Italian Renaissance: “To this severe and exacting method of straight-line shading some of the most modern draughtsmen – for instance M. Legros – have of preference returned. It cannot be denied, however, that some of the legitimate effects of engraving are thus lost” (56). Legros carried on with this formula even more successfully in his etched portrait of Jules Dalou also of 1876. At that time both Poynter and Dalou were teaching at the National Art Training School at South Kensington where Legros was teaching etching techniques. Legros and Poynter were friends of long standing. They had likely met initially through their mutual friend James Whistler when Poynter and Whistler were art students at Gleyre’s studio in Paris in the late 1850s. Poynter was supportive of Legros after his move to London in 1863. In 1876 Legros replaced Poynter as Slade Professor at University College London.
A drawing of Poynter by Legros that formed the basis for the print was shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880. F. G. Stephens, the critic of The Athenaeum, preferred this drawing to the later print: “Portrait of E. J. Poynter, Esq. (307), which is accompanied by the etched reproduction from it, is more brilliant and more like the subject than the etching” (24).
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Colvin, Sidney. “Albrecht Durer: his Teachers, his Rivals, and his Followers.” The Portfolio (1877): 54-63.
Hamerton, Philip G. “Edward Poynter, R.A.” Stephens, Frederic George. “The Grosvenor Gallery – Winter Exhibition,” The Athenaeum No. 2723 (January 3, 1880): 24.
Created 19 November 2022