Showing posts with label Alphonse Legros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alphonse Legros. Show all posts

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Women in Prayer (1888)

Alphonse Legros: Women in Prayer

Alphonse Legros has a picture at the Tate Gallery, Women in Prayer, in which he subtly suggests how widely different an exercise prayer might be at different times and under different conditions. Here in this grey and subdued picture he shows how the inner character displays itself. In the faces of the women praying we see ecstasy, awe, anguish, doubt, weariness, formality. In any ordinary congregation during prayer these may be seen with equal vividness. [Illustrations from Art for Pulpit and Platform, James Burns. Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1912, p. 98]

Friday, February 5, 2016

The Blessing of the Sea (1872)

Alphonse Legros: The Blessing of the Sea

The tradition of "Blessing the Sea" comes from a medieval legend. The story tells of fishermen caught in a terrible storm which only stopped when a monk fell to his knees to pray by the sea. Alphonse Legros often depicted peasant life and this painting shows the blessing of the sea in the small coastal village of Etretat, just north of Le Havre in France. This annual ceremony still takes place in Etretat every May. [Museum Sheffield]