Study from the Antique 

Alphonse Legros made this drawing, Study from the Antique, using graphite and white chalk on blue paper. As the title suggests, this is a study of a fragment of ancient sculpture, most likely made in an art school. In Legros’s time, academic art education in Europe involved endless hours copying from antique casts, as students were taught to believe that classical Greek and Roman sculpture represented the pinnacle of artistic achievement. In Britain, where Legros taught for many years, the art schools maintained a rigid hierarchy, with life drawing classes reserved for the most advanced students. But copying from ancient sculpture was seen as the essential foundation of an artist’s training. The paradox, of course, is that supposedly encouraging artistic creativity was based on endless, uncreative, acts of copying. If you want to know more, look into the history of the Slade School of Fine Art, where Legros was Professor.