Study of a Greek 

Alphonse Legros created this drawing, "Study of a Greek," using red chalk. Legros, a French artist working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, produced this study during a period when Realism and academic art were in dialogue. The identity of the sitter is key here. Legros has chosen to depict a "Greek," and the very act of naming him so places the sitter within a specific historical and cultural context, laden with the weight of classical ideals and the then-current romanticism of antiquity. What does it mean to study a Greek? Is Legros seeking to capture an essential "Greekness," or is he simply studying a model who embodies certain physical characteristics? The term “Greek” could have been code for a specific kind of masculinity rooted in ideals of beauty and strength. This drawing invites us to consider how identity is constructed and perceived, both by the artist and by the viewer. The gaze of the sitter seems to acknowledge our presence, as if aware of being observed. It is in this exchange of gazes, that we are asked to confront our own assumptions about identity, representation, and the power dynamics inherent in the act of looking.