Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens, Portrait of Young Woman, 19th Century, Gouache

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Beautiful gouache technique painting representing a distinguished young lady.
The noblewoman presents a pose of rare elegance, with one hand … Read more Beautiful gouache technique painting representing a distinguished young lady.
The noblewoman presents a pose of rare elegance, with one hand resting on a planter and the other holding a closed fan.
The grace, period, style, and quality all point to the production of a great Flemish-area artist of the second half of the 19th century, Alfred Émile Léopold Stevens, to whom we can attribute the painting.

Certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi Expert of the Court and the C.C.I.A.A. of Rome.

This item comes from a private collection and is therefore unpublished on the market


The painting comes with a beautiful coeval wood and pure gold gilded pastille frame.

Alfred Émile Stevens was born in Brussels, where he was initiated into painting by François-Joseph Navez, himself a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. Stevens was mainly active in Paris, where he settled in 1844. He began his activity by painting pictures of the miserable life of the lower classes in Paris, until one of his paintings ("What is called vagabondage") attracted the attention of Napoleon III, who saw it at the 1855 Universal Exhibition. That work prompted the Emperor to review the way the army arrested vagrants, which certainly benefited the image of the soldiers, but not that of the vagrants.

For a time, his historical themes and his taste for Orientalist kitsch made him an academic painter, but, beginning in the 1860s, Stevens radically changed subjects and achieved enormous success with paintings of young women dressed in the latest fashion, posing in elegant interiors. His scenes of bourgeois interiors brought him closer to the painting of Henri Gervex, and he was also nicknamed the French "Gerard Terborch" for his expertise in reproducing details and sumptuous fabrics.

The 1867 Paris Expo was a triumph for him, not least because he received the Legion of Honor for the occasion. Stevens was as comfortable in Napoleon III's court and high society as he was in the artistic and "bohemian" circles of the capital. He was close friends with Édouard Manet-to whom he introduced the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel-and his circle of acquaintances: from Edgar Degas to Berthe Morisot to Charles Baudelaire. He also had some influence on James Whistler, with whom he shared a passion for Japanese prints.

He also painted "seascapes" and coastal landscapes, in a much freer style, however, one might say almost Impressionist, close to that of Eugène Boudin or Johan Barthold Jongkind.
In his later years his style closely resembled that of his contemporary John Singer Sargent. In 1886 Stevens also published "Impressions sur la peinture," a book that had considerable circulation, and in 1900 he was the first living artist to be given a solo exhibition at the "School of Fine Arts" in Paris.

He stopped painting after 1890 for health reasons and died in Paris in 1906 at the age of 83.

His paintings were also popular in America, where the powerful Vanderbilt family bought several of them. Most of these works, however, still remained in France or Belgium.
Under current legislation, this work may need an export license if it is sold outside of Italy
Depending on the destination, the time to set up the paperwork on our end could take several weeks to export. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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