Legras. Large Art Nouveau gilt and enameled glass vase, France, 1890s

François-Théodore Legras is a master French glassmaker. His childhood spent in a tiny hamlet, surrounded by nature, in the heart of the Darney Forest, one of the most beautiful forests in France, has probably marked and will become a source of inspiration for his creations focused on fauna, flora and especially on the landscapes of forests and lakes that punctuate the Ourche Valley. At the age of 20, he entered as a clerk in glassworks near his native hamlet. At the age of 24, he left his native Vosges to work at the Plaine Saint-Denis glassworks in Saint-Denis near Paris where he was hired as a night clerk. Six months later, Legras became a manufacturing manager and in 1866, at the age of 27, he became director of glassware. He then builds a new modern factory and a workers' city that over the years becomes an Industrial complex of nearly 20,000 square meters. Legras became chief executive officer of Legras et Cie, then of the Verrerie et Cristallerie de Saint-Denis. He participates in many national and international exhibitions where he is very often rewarded. Legras was also responsible for the glassware and crystalware part of the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris.