Alfred Stevens was born in
Brussels. He came from a family involved with the visual arts: his older
brother Joseph (1816–1892) and his son Léopold (1866–1935) were painters, while
another brother Arthur (1825–99) was an art dealer and critic. His father, who
had fought in the Napoleonic wars in the army of William I of the Netherlands,
was an art collector who owned several watercolors by Eugène Delacroix, among
other artists. His mother's parents ran Café de l'Amitié in Brussels, a meeting
place for politicians, writers, and artists.