George de Forest Brush

George De Forest Brush studied at the National Academy of Design, New York, and later in Paris from under Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) at the same time as Abbott Thayer. Like much art of the 19th century, his work shows a fascination with the Italian Renaissance. In Head of an Infant, Brush's academic training and technical skill are shown by the subtle tonality in the modeling of the head and cheek. His use of red and white chalk on a colored ground emulates the chiaroscuro technique developed by sixteenth­century Italian artists, which continued to be part of classical academic training into the 19th century. Brush was known for using his family as models to depict Renaissance subjects such as the Madonna and Child. The subject of this drawing is most likely the artist's granddaughter Joan, who was born in 1914.

Brush brought his family to Dublin for the first time in 1899 at the urging of his friend Abbott Thayer. In 1901, the Brushes bought a small farm there and in subsequent years divided their time between Dublin and Florence, Italy. George de Forest Brush was an active member of the Dublin community, lecturing about his many travels and reenacting some of the sacred dances and ceremonies that he had learned from the Crow in Montana.