Alfred de Breanski Snr

Alfred de Breanski painted the mountains, lochs and rivers of the Scottish Highlands and North Wales in a style that mixes romance with careful detail. His favourite effect is the glow of evening: warm light on still water and purple and gold on the hills.

He was born in Greenwich in 1852 into a family of Polish origin, and two of his siblings, Gustave and Julie, were painters too. He first showed at the Royal Academy in 1872, with a landscape bought by the Bishop of Peterborough, and exhibited there until 1918, as well as at the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Cambrian Academy. He married the Welsh painter Annie Roberts, and their sons Alfred and Arthur also became painters. For a time he painted the Thames from a houseboat. He died in London in 1928.

Evening Glow, Ben More and A Salmon Trout Stream, Cader Idris show both halves of his territory.