John Lavery was an Irish painter and member of the Glasgow School of Painting best known for his realistic portraits, genre scenes, and landscapes. Lavery’s works maintained a sketch-like quality which emphasized brushstrokes, in a style reminiscent of James Abbot McNeill Whistler. As a member of the so-called Glasgow Boys, a group of Scottish and Irish artists, his work was often made in reaction against the traditional approach to painting popularized by Victorian artists of his day. Born on March 20, 1856 in Belfast, United Kingdom, he first attended the Haldane Academy in Glasgow before studying at the Académie Julian in Paris, France. While attending school in France, the artist was inspired by French artists, such as Jules Bastien-Lepage, to pursue plein-air painting and paint in a naturalist style. Today, Lavery’s works are in the collections of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Tate Gallery in London, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Ulster Museum in Belfast, among others. Lavery died on January 10, 1941 in Kilmoganny, Ireland.