HENRY BACON

Painter and illustrator Henry Bacon was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1839, and is known as one of the leading expatriate genre and figure painters of his time. In 1857, at the age of 18, Bacon enlisted in the US Army, and served as a field illustrator for Leslie’s Weekly until he was seriously wounded.

In 1864, he went to Europe to study with Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and with Edouard Frère in Écouen from 1866 to 1867. Bacon remained in Europe for the rest of his life, and exhibited at the Paris Salon for 26 of the 29 years between 1867 and 1896. During the mid-1890s, he traveled with his wife through Egypt, Greece, Sicily, Ceylon and Italy, documenting his travels in watercolor. He died in Cairo, Egypt in 1912.