Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)

Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)

Alphonse Legros

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Legros was president of the Alfred Stevens Memorial Committee formed in June 1910 to plan a monument to the British sculptor at the Tate Gallery. This drawing of the Caryatids that adorn the fireplace designed by Stevens for Dorchester House relates to Legros’s initial idea to incorporate these figures into a base to support a bust of the artist. Ultimately, it was decided to reproduce the chimneypiece in its entirety. The drawing is a testament to Legros’s role in honoring a fellow artist he admired.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)Design for a Memorial to Alfred Stevens (1817–1875)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.