Alfred Ronner artwork • painting • previously for sale Gypsy girl with her dog

As the son of Henriette Ronner-Knip, Alfred Ronner received painting lessons from his mother at a very young age and then received a thorough education at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts. The Ronner family was very close. All five children remained unmarried and lived and worked at home and often exhibited together. Alfred, along with his sisters Alice and Emma, followed in his mother's footsteps, although he chose to paint figures and genre scenes. After 1887 he stopped painting because of his ill health; oil paint and turpentine were taxing on his respiratory system. This did not prevent him from becoming a successful illustrator of historical novels and magazines. He also made caricatural and humorous drawings.