Alfred Stevens is an important and highly regarded Belgian Impressionist and Belle Epoque painter. As a great friend of Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, he came to be friends with all the important Impressionists. He won the Grand Prix in 1889 and 1900 in Paris at the Salon and was a prominent member of the Royal Belgian Academy. He won many medals at international exhibitions and also achieved the distinction of being elected a member of the Royal Academy of Madrid. Although he is best known on the market today for his depictions of beautiful women of the Belle Epoque era, it is his little impressionist coastal scenes which have always been most sought after, and this particular example has all the vigour, life, and light of his best impressionist period.
Mrs Stead