Inness, George Jr New York (1854-1926) IN THE PASTURE oil on canvas, framed signed & dated: lower left, G. Inness, 1884 H14" W21" *Artist biography: Born in Paris, France, George Inness Jr. became a noted animal and figure painter and illustrator. Late in his career, he turned to religious subjects. He began his art studies in Rome with his father, landscape painter George Inness Sr., and then continued his studies with Leon Bonnat in Paris. In 1875, the Inness family returned to America, and from 1878, he and his father shared a studio in New York City. The young Inness earned a good reputation, underscored by his beginning in 1887 to exhibit at the National Academy of Design and his election to the Salmagundi Club. However, Inness Jr., as he signed his work, determined to distance himself from his father's strong personality, tonalist style, and landscape subjects. He re-directed himself to depictions of figures and animals. During the 1880s, he went to California as an illustrator of big game hunts for New York magazine, publishers of "Scribner's" and "Century". His father died in 1894, and Inness went to Paris, where he had a studio from 1895-99. Even after death, his father continued to influence him, and he asserted that George Inness Sr. appeared to him in a vision with comments that his future direction should be religious subjects. From 1918 to 1922, the son painted religious allegories on themes of "promise, realization and fulfillment" (Zellman 749). Some of these paintings are held in the Good Shepherd Church in Tarpon Springs, Florida where Inness had a winter home. He died in Cragsmoor, New York in 1926.