Edwin Howland Blashfield (American, 1848 to 1936)
One of the leading academic painters of the turn of the century, Blashfield studied in Paris under Leon Bonnat from 1867 to 1870 and from 1874 to 1880 before returning home permanently to New York City. He exhibited paintings at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy in London, beginning in 1876, while maintaining close friendships with painters Charles Sprague Pearce and Arthur Bridgman who had studios in the same building he did in Paris. During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Blashfield produced allegorical and fanciful paintings before turning primarily to mural work.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, June 2009.