Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Frank Benson studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School under Otto Grundmann (1844 1890). There he befriended Edmund Tarbell (1862- 1938), who was also destined to become one of the most important American Impressionists. After a period of study at the Académie Julian in Paris with Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888) and Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1912), Benson settled in Boston, where he taught at the Boston Museum School from1889 until 1917. He was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1897, and a full academician in 1905. Noted for his plein-air landscapes, Benson is best remembered as one of the Ten American Painters, a group of Impressionists with whom he exhibited between 1898 and 1919. He also exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Art Club, the Cleveland Art Association, the Boston Art Club, and many other organizations. Benson began etching in 1912 and became a master of the medium. After 1921 he increasingly turned his attention to watercolor.