A Selkirk Valley

Alfred De Breanski Snr. was born in Greenwich in 1852 and died in 1928. He was the oldest son in his family and his two other siblings, Gustave and Julie, also became painters. De Breanski completed his training quickly, and made his debut at the Royal Academy in 1872. By the 1870s, he had embraced landscape painting and travelled to the isolated regions of Wales and Scotland in search of wilderness landscapes, creating a unique blend of romanticism and realism.

De Bréanski later married Annie Roberts, a Welsh painter in her own right. They raised a family of seven children, including Alfred, Jr. and Arthur who also became painters. The family connection to Wales, as well as his affection for the rugged landscapes he found there, encouraged De Bréanski to exhibit his work at the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1881, De Breanski and a group of artists banded together to form a new “academy” where they could exhibit their work in Wales. Queen Victoria officially recognized the group in 1882, thus adding “royal” to the organization’s name. Back in London, he routinely showed his painting at both the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists and Royal Institute of Oil Painters.