Evening at the Window

This etching is one of more than 600 that Alphonse Legros created throughout his career. He favored this technique, which allowed artists to sketch on a copper plate as if drawing on paper, for its spontaneity. Legros often worked directly on the plate, crossing off portions to be trimmed away as he went. In this image of a man staring through an open window, Legros scribbled along the upper and lower margins to give the composition a more specific focus.