Alfred Roll

Vocation

French painter. His 1875 painting of "The Flood at Toulouse" attracted huge attention, and it is now in the Havre Museum. All of his early work was romantic style, but was influenced by other styles including Bolognese and Gustave Courbet. In 1877 he exhibited "Fete of Silenus" at Salon, which is now at the Ghent Museum. It was at this point Roll decided to devote his work to painting everyday life, and his style changed as well to a more realist one. He began to paint portraits, and with his 1880 painting "Miners' Strike", he became one of France's highest ranked painters of the day; he was extremely successful for the rest of his working life. He became the French government's official painter, and was commissioned to paint numerous art pieces, including those of murals, ceilings, and other building decoration. Many of his paintings are in public art galleries, including the Hotel de Ville museum, the Cognac Museum, Avignon Museum, Laval Museum, Fontainebleau Palace, Pau Museum, and the Museum of Geneva. In 1905 he became the president of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, which he co-founded. Jules Ernest Renoux was one of his pupils. He died 27 October 1919. Link to Wikipedia biography