Elegante à l'éventail, oil on canvas by Jan Van Beers.
Jan Van Beers was born in Lierre in the Province of Antwerp in 1852, son of the poet of the same name.
He attended art school in Antwerp, where he worked with the sculptor Jef Lambeaux and the painter Piet Verhaert, and began his career depicting historical subjects.
He moved to Paris in 1878 and worked in the studio of his compatriot Alfred Stevens, who enjoyed great success in the French capital. He then abandoned historical subjects in favor of meticulously painted genre scenes, which won him numerous commissions. He painted many portraits of women of the world, including Sarah Bernhardt.
The present painting is typical of his work, in which women take pride of place, always portrayed in distinguished elegance and with a clean, precise touch.
