Albert Roelofs was born in Brussels in 1877, the son of the famous landscape artist Willem Roelofs. After some initial drawing and painting lessons by his father, he attended the Academy in The Hague from 1893. Three years later he returned to his native city. Initially he painted landscapes, but he gradually developed a preference for genre paintings and portraits.
His most loyal model was his wife, Tjieke, who inspired him to produce countless figure paintings that speak of intimate and homely happiness.
His work was especially popular among the Belgian bourgeoisie.