DOI Heft:
No. 165 (December, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Khnopff, Fernand: The art of the late Alfred Stevens, Belgian painter
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20716#0231
Alfred Stevens, Belgian Painter
T
KHNOPFF
HE ART OF THE LATE " Stevens, concerning whom the present sovereign
ALFRED STEVENS, BELGIAN °f Flanders might have repeated, on sending him
PAINTER BY FERNAND t0 France (a §ift Precious above all others!), the
Duke of Burgundy's words about Van Eyck: ' I
send you my best workman !'
When in February, 1900, a group of French "Among the many claims of this subtle mono-
painters in Paris, under the presidency of the graphist of the eternal feminine to our admiration I
Comtesse Greffulhe, the grande dame of Art, would signalise the art with which, in his skilful
obtained for the Belgian painter, Alfred Stevens, and refined pictures, he varies the motif of Woman
the honour (hitherto without precedent for a and Love under the form of that billei-doux, so
living artist) of an exhibition at the Ecole des often torn and scattered to the winds like the
Beaux-Arts, that subtle poet, the Comte Robert petals of a white rose ; till Stevens might almost be
de Montesquiou, wrote a preface for the catalogue called the 1 peintre aux billets] as an old Swiss
in which he formulated his delicate appreciation of master was once the 'peintre aux ceillets.'
the master in so definite a fashion that I cannot do " I claim another merit for him—for that future
better than simply transcribe it here in great part: of his which already exists in the present—in his
" Alfred Stevens, the last—and perhaps the first contribution to the history of costume. In the
—of those lesser Flemish masters who were great retrospective view of Alfred Stevens's canvases we
masters, since he surpasses Terburg and yields in find the curious fashions of the Second Empire,
no point to Vermeer. and especially those Indian cashmere shawls of
" Stevens, whom I would willingly call the which Stevens will ever remain the unique painter,
sonnettiste of painting, for the art with which, in as was his master, Van der Meer of Delft, of those
his exquisite panels, he combines so harmoniously vast unrolled maps which hang azure oceans and
all the sheen of mirrors and satins, of lacquers and many-coloured continents on the peaceful walls of
enamels, of eyes and of gems. Dutch interiors."
THE LATE ALFRED STEVENS
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY DORNAC, PARIS
T
KHNOPFF
HE ART OF THE LATE " Stevens, concerning whom the present sovereign
ALFRED STEVENS, BELGIAN °f Flanders might have repeated, on sending him
PAINTER BY FERNAND t0 France (a §ift Precious above all others!), the
Duke of Burgundy's words about Van Eyck: ' I
send you my best workman !'
When in February, 1900, a group of French "Among the many claims of this subtle mono-
painters in Paris, under the presidency of the graphist of the eternal feminine to our admiration I
Comtesse Greffulhe, the grande dame of Art, would signalise the art with which, in his skilful
obtained for the Belgian painter, Alfred Stevens, and refined pictures, he varies the motif of Woman
the honour (hitherto without precedent for a and Love under the form of that billei-doux, so
living artist) of an exhibition at the Ecole des often torn and scattered to the winds like the
Beaux-Arts, that subtle poet, the Comte Robert petals of a white rose ; till Stevens might almost be
de Montesquiou, wrote a preface for the catalogue called the 1 peintre aux billets] as an old Swiss
in which he formulated his delicate appreciation of master was once the 'peintre aux ceillets.'
the master in so definite a fashion that I cannot do " I claim another merit for him—for that future
better than simply transcribe it here in great part: of his which already exists in the present—in his
" Alfred Stevens, the last—and perhaps the first contribution to the history of costume. In the
—of those lesser Flemish masters who were great retrospective view of Alfred Stevens's canvases we
masters, since he surpasses Terburg and yields in find the curious fashions of the Second Empire,
no point to Vermeer. and especially those Indian cashmere shawls of
" Stevens, whom I would willingly call the which Stevens will ever remain the unique painter,
sonnettiste of painting, for the art with which, in as was his master, Van der Meer of Delft, of those
his exquisite panels, he combines so harmoniously vast unrolled maps which hang azure oceans and
all the sheen of mirrors and satins, of lacquers and many-coloured continents on the peaceful walls of
enamels, of eyes and of gems. Dutch interiors."
THE LATE ALFRED STEVENS
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY DORNAC, PARIS