Count Aymer de la Chevalerie

This 1896 portrait of Count Aymer de la Chevalerie represents Evenepoel's engagement with the formal portrait tradition alongside his more unconventional street and fair subjects. That he painted an aristocratic sitter confirms his social range: the same artist who painted fairground wrestlers and Sunday promenaders could also satisfy the demands of conventional portraiture. The count's identity suggests connections within French society that Evenepoel cultivated as a Belgian artist seeking to establish himself in Paris. Formal portraits required different skills from genre painting—sustained engagement with a specific sitter, attention to the conventions of pose and setting that would satisfy a patron—and Evenepoel's success with both modes testifies to his versatility. The 1896 date places this in the heart of his productive middle period, when he was working confidently across a range of subjects. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp holds this canvas alongside other Evenepoel portraits, allowing comparison of his approach to different sitters and social contexts.

A formal portrait of an aristocratic sitter required Evenepoel to balance his characteristic painterly directness with the conventions of commissioned portraiture. The paint surface would likely be more finished in the face than in his crowd scenes, while retaining his confident, unhesitant touch in the figure and setting.