ALFRED STEVENS (1823-1906) * Belgian painter

Alfred Émile Léopold Stevens (11 May 1823-24 August 1906) was a Belgian painter, known for his paintings of elegant modern women. In their realistic style and careful finish, his works reveal the influence of 17th-century Dutch genre painting. After gaining attention early in his career with a social realist painting depicting the plight of poor vagrants, he achieved great critical and popular success with his scenes of upper-middle class Parisian life. Alfred Stevens was born in 1823 in Belgian and died in 1906. His early childhood was surrounded by the works of arts as his family was involved in visual arts. His father was an art collector, who owned some watercolor paintings by Eugene Delacroix and fought in the Napoleonic war in the army of William I of the Netherlands. In the year 1837, Alfred Stevens left his middle school to begin his further studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He met Jacques-Louis David, Francois Navez-a neo classical painter and his grandfather's old friend. Alfred in the year 1843 went to Paris to join his brother Joseph who was already residing there.
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