Alfred Stevens: 118 Masterpieces

Alfred Stevens was a Belgian painter who came from a family of painters. He studied under Ingres at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His early paintings show a debt to the realism of Gustave Courbet and the historical subjects of Henri Leys. He and his brother were becoming part of the art world of Paris, meeting people such as the Goncourt brothers, Théophile Gautier, and Alexandre Dumas at the salons of Princess Mathilde as well as popular cafés. During the 1860s, Stevens became an immensely successful painter, known for his paintings of elegant modern women. His exhibits at the Salons in Paris and Brussels attracted favorable critical attention and buyers. In 1863, he received the Legion of Honor from the Belgian government. In 1867, he won a first-class medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris, and was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor. His friends included Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Charles Baudelaire, Berthe Morisot, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Frédéric Bazille.