American genre painter Edward Lamson Henry (1841-1919) was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He studied in Philadelphia before traveling to Paris, where he trained with Gleyre and Courbet. One of the most prolific and popular artists of the late nineteenth century, he was elected to the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1869. Henry was widely appreciated as an artful storyteller who meticulously and lovingly documented places and events, particularly those associated with early America, the Civil War, and the dawn of railroad travel, rendering them with much detail. His portrayals of colonial and early American themes and incidents of rural life display a quaint humor and an appreciation of human nature. At the same time, his depictions of contemporary society convey his era's fascination with the past. Less well known today than other important nineteenth-century American painters, Henry is introduced to a broader audience in this book, which explores, in particular, his fascination with "historical fictions," pictorial visions of historic sites and incidents that blend a keen attention to documentary detail with flair for engaging narrative. In a period of industrialization and change, these paintings resonated with a large public concerned with defining themselves through an understanding of the past
