Alfred Jonniaux (22 November 18821974) was a Belgian portrait painter who worked in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the United States of America.

Career

He was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, where he studied at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels ( ''(ArBA-EsA)''; ) is an art school in Brussels, Belgium, founded in 1711. Starting from modest beginnings in a single room in Brussels Town Hall, Brussels' Town Hall, it has since 1876 been operat ...

. He worked in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and established a successful career as a portraitist in London, with a studio in Yeoman's Row, Chelsea. He painted the portraits of society figures, and members of the European aristocracy and royal families. Portraits of the

Mander family The Mander family has held for over 200 years a prominent position in the Midland counties of England, both in the family business and public life. In the early Industrial Revolution, the Mander family entered the vanguard of the expansion of ...

are in the collection at

Owlpen Manor Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a valley within the Cotswold Area of Outst ...

, Gloucestershire. Jonniaux was a member of the

New Society of Artists The New Society of Artists was formed in London in 1921. Its primary aim was to give a chance for artists whose work had not been accepted by the Royal Academy (RA) to exhibit their work in London and, later, in the provinces. In 1932 it became the ...

. Following the Nazi occupation of Belgium during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he fled to the United States of America, and became an American citizen in 1946. During his first ten years in America, he established studios in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. His exhibitions led to many portrait commissions from leading figures in all spheres of American life. Among the prominent figures he painted were Justice Owens J. Roberts, Kenneth Royall and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, whose portrait was hung until recent years in the

Roosevelt Room The Roosevelt Room is a Conference hall, meeting room in the West Wing of the White House, the residence of the president of the United States, in Washington D.C. Located in the center of the wing, across the hall from the Oval Office, it is n ...

in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. His papers are held at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

References

1882 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Belgian painters Belgian emigrants to the United States Painters from Brussels American portrait painters 20th-century American male artists Belgian expatriates in France Belgian expatriates in the United Kingdom {{US-painter-1880s-stub