Painter and etcher, was born at Dijon, France. He studied firstly at his local art school and was apprenticed to Maître Nicolardo a house decorator and painter. In 1851 Legros left for Paris to take another situation, but passing through Lyon he worked for six months as journeyman wall-painter under the decorator Beuchot, who was painting the chapel of Cardinal Bonald in the cathedral. Arriving in Paris he studied Cambon a theatrical scene painter and simultaneously attended the drawing-school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In 1855 Legros attended the evening classes at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Legros migrated to England in 1863 and in 1864 married Miss Frances Rosetta Hodgson. At first he lived by his etching and teaching. He then became teacher of etching at the South Kensington Schools, and in 1876 Slade Professor at University College, London. His work was exhibited at the Paris Salon, with the Society of Twelve and at the RA and RE. He became a naturalized Englishman in 1881, and remained at University College for seventeen years. He also made medals and examples of his oeuvre are in the collection of the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Museum of Dijon.

^{Biography from Liss Llewellyn}

Alphonse Legros was born in Dijon, France on 8 May 1837. He was apprenticed at the age of eleven to ‘maître’ Nicolardot, a house painter in Dijon and is thought to have briefly attended the local École des Beaux-Arts. In 1851 he moved with his family to Lyons where he was employed by J.-B. Beuchot as a decorative painter. He also studied at the École Impériale de Dessin in Paris, where his fellow students included Henri de Fantin-Latour (1836–1904), and Auguste Rodin (1840–1917). From 1855 to 1857 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1857 his painting Portrait du père de l'artiste was accepted at the Salon.

In 1861 he first visited London, and two years later decided to settle there. He met with immediate success, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1864 and at other London galleries and in the provinces soon after. He began teaching etching at the National Art Training School in South Kensington, London and in 1873 was appointed Professor of Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London, a post he held until 1893. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (RE) in 1880 and an Honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy (HRSA) in 1911.

Legros was naturalized a British citizen on 13 October 1880 and continued to live in England for the rest of his life. He died in Watford, Hertfordshire, England on 8 December 1911.