Beggar with Crutches 

Alphonse Legros made this drawing of a Beggar with Crutches, in brown wash over graphite, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Legros was a French-born artist who spent much of his career in Britain. He taught at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, which was revolutionary for allowing women to study art alongside men. This drawing may relate to Legros’s wider interest in social realism, a movement prominent in France at the time. Artists like Gustave Courbet aimed to depict the lives of ordinary people, especially the working class and the poor. This image, with its muted tones and focus on the man’s weathered face and outstretched hand, speaks to the hardships faced by many in industrialized societies. Studying the social and economic conditions of the time, through sources like census records, newspapers, and photographs, can help us understand the context in which Legros created this image.