Heade made many studies of flowers, beginning around 1860. Born in Pennsylvania, he became a professional portrait painter before visiting France, England, and Italy between 1840 and 1843. An inveterate traveler, Heade went to Europe again in the late 1840s, lived briefly in several American cities, visited South America on at least three occasions, and finally settled in Florida in 1883.
Credit Line: Text courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art.