Description:

Alfred Smith was born to a father of Welsh origin and a local Bordeaux mother. Whilst not immediately drawn to painting he was friends with a small group of landscape painters who were influenced by the realist tradition of Gustave Courbet and Camille Corot. He did eventually begin studies in 1876 with Hippolyte Pradelles, followed by Léonce Chabry and Amédée Baudit. It was Alfred Philippe Roll who recognised his talent, promoted his work and encouraged him to paint more. Smith’s exhibit in the Salon of 1886 earned him a special mention and he went from strength to strength fully devoting himself to painting that same year.

He gained a third class medal in the 1888 Salon des Artistes français, and a bronze in 1889. He became a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1894 and won a bronze medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. After this he became a regular exhibitor at the Salon and his reputation grew in stature as his confidence grew. His plein air, impressionistic paintings display a keen sense of observation, especially in the light, whilst also being difficult to pigeon hole. He adapted his style to each individual subject matter making for a varied and colourful oeuvre, be it a landscape of Bordeaux or Venice, a portrait or a cityscape of Paris. As his style matured he adopted a more colourful palette from his subtler colour schemes and he began to focus on landscapes around the Creuse valley. As a result he has been called a member of the Crozant school although he was always very much his own man.

At first glance this relatively straightforward scene of a miller checking the consistency of the recently milled wheat, belies its complexity. The mill interior is rendered in very close detail from the teeth on the huge cogs turning behind him to the fine white dust that coats everything. The miller seems calm and concentrated as he checks the flour and blissfully unconcerned by the melodic clanking of the vast wheels beyond him.