International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

A If red Stevens,
Alfred - Emile - Leopold-Joseph-Victor - Ghislain
Stevens was born at Brussels on May n, 1823.
His father, Jean - Frangois - Leopold, had been
an orderly officer of William I., King of the
Netherlands. His mother was Catherine-Victoire
Dufoy. Three sons, Joseph, Alfred and Arthur,
with a daughter who died young, were born of the
marriage. “The eldest was that other great
painter who (as Camille Lemonnier has said in
his fine monograph on Alfred Stevens) deserves a
place by the side of Decamps and Troyon as a
marvellous animal-painter ; to his contemporaries
the youngest was the ambassador of Rousseau,
Millet and Corot, then still subjects of discussion
and almost obscure.”
The father of the future master loved pictures
passionately, buying and selling them from pre-
dilection ; it is therefore no matter for surprise
that while still quite a child, attending the courses
at the Athenee in Brussels, Alfred Stevens worked
on Thursday afternoons (his holiday) in the studio
of Frangois-Joseph Navez, devoting himself solely
to drawing, because the master categorically for-
bade his pupils to paint until they had thoroughly
acquired the science of form.
“ One day,” writes the painter of the Dame en
Rose to M. Jules Du Jardin (the learned author of
“L’Art Flamand,” a valuable work which yields us
much information), “one day we were told that M.
Navez would not come to correct the studies of his
pupils. I begged a little money from my grand-
mother, Mme. Dufoy, and I painted a large head
from nature. As it chanced M. Navez came after
all, towards evening. ‘ Who painted this head ? ’
he demanded, on seeing my work, hastily thrust
into a corner. ‘ Little Stevens,’ someone replied.
‘Put on your cap, I shall take you to your grand-
father,’ said the classical painter, and he took me
by the hand. I confess that I was trembling all
over when we arrived at the house of M. Dufoy, a
worthy and honest man of commerce. But my
fright turned to stupefaction when I heard Navez
inform Dufoy : ‘ I have come to tell you that your
grandson is going to be a great painter some day.’
And I still possess that study of a head, my first
success in painting. I don’t know why, but it
suggests Gericault; for many French artists, and
not unimportant ones either, have said to me:
‘What a fine thing of Gericault’s you have there!”’
The artistic vocation which revealed itself thus
suddenly in the child corresponded fully with
the secret desires of his parents, who were little
inclined to oppose it. Alfred was entered for the
evening drawing-courses at the Brussels Academie,

Belgian Painter
and his rapid progress was remarked. In 1844 he
went to Paiis, where he continued his studies
under the painter Camille Roqueplan, a friend of
his father. Roqueplan soon fell ill, however,
and had to go to the south of France. The
young man thereupon gained admission to the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts, entering sixteenth among a
large number of candidates. He thus enjoyed the
teaching of many celebrities of the French school,
notably that of Ingres, concerning whom he liked
to relate that the old master, recognising how
thoroughly versed he was in osteology, advised
him one day, when correcting one of his drawings
from nature, to look upon what, for example, was
really a kneecap, as a mere stone, for fear of
conventionality.
A family bereavement—the death of Mme. Dufoy
—recalled the student to Brussels, and it was in
Belgium, after this event, that he painted his first
picture, Un Soldat Malheureux. It was purchased
from him by M. Godecharle, a picture-dealer and a
son of the celebrated sculptor. Towards the end
of 1849 Alfred Stevens returned to Paris, but being
unable to afford the rent of a studio for himself
alone, he established himself in that of his com-
patriot, Florent Willems, and prepared for his debut
as an artist. This he achieved in a brilliant manner,
and his first works attracted much attention. In the
“Revue de l’Exposition Generate de Bruxelles de
1851 ” was to be read as follows: “Although the
latest comer, M. Alfred Stevens is among those who
have arrived the first. We place him at the head of
genre painters for his three charming little pictures,
Soldat Huguenot, Regrets de la Patrie, and DAmour
de rOr. They are three exquisite pearls, the value
of which has been speedily recognised by connois-
seurs.”
But before proceeding further our readers must
be assured that it is useless to attempt to describe
the works achieved by Alfred Stevens during the
best years of his life (towards the end of his long
career embarrassed circumstances sometimes forced
hasty and superabundant production upon him).
These beautiful paintings do not lend themselves
to “ literary transposition,” for their essential tech-
nical beauty surpasses all comparison; they must
be seen and admired in their actuality. We shall
therefore content ourselves with collecting various
fragments of criticism which help to show how
and by whom these memorable achievements were
appreciated.
Alfred Stevens’s career had opened brilliantly,
and his subsequent success never failed. In 1853
he exhibited the Matin du Mercredi des Cendres in

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