Though he was born in Norwich, England, and lived in London for the second half of his life, Boughton's formative years as a self-taught artist began in Albany, New York, where his family settled in the 1830's. He was recognized as a leading landscape painter in the United States and abroad and was also a successful illustrator, illustrating editions of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and History of New York, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.
