
George Inness Jr. (1854–1926) emerged from his famous father's shadow to become one of America's foremost figure and landscape painters. Born in Paris, the first of six children to celebrated American Tonalist George Inness and his wife Elizabeth, he grew up immersed in art. He studied with his father and with French academician Léon Bonnat, gaining exposure to the Barbizon School, particularly the animalier Constant Troyon.
In 1875, the family returned to America, settling eventually in Montclair, New Jersey, where father and son shared a studio. Determined to distinguish himself, the younger Inness incorporated cattle, horses, and oxen into his landscapes, a specialty that set him apart. He worked as a magazine illustrator and painter of hunting scenes, building his own reputation.
When his father died in 1894, Inness Jr. claimed to have experienced a vision of him, prompting him to destroy about a hundred canvases he felt too closely resembled his father's style. He returned to Paris to study further at the École des Beaux-Arts. Back in America by 1900, he split his time between Cragsmoor, New York, and Tarpon Springs, Florida, whose landscapes he painted extensively. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1899. His Cragsmoor estate, Chetolah, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. He married the daughter of publisher Roswell Smith. Inness Jr. is recognized as a great Florida artist for his depictions of the state's unspoiled nature. His work is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Montclair Art Museum.
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