Robert Swain Gifford

Robert Swain Gifford was an American painter and printmaker, born on Naushon Island, Massachusetts. He was taught how to draw by Albert van Beest and William Bradford in New Bedford, MA. Gifford worked briefly in Boston before moving to New York City in 1866, where he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1867 and was made a full academician about a decade later in 1878. Gifford traveled extensively through Europe and northern Africa, and was part of the Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899.

Gifford won medals at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia; 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris; 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo; and the 1902 Charleston Exposition. He also helped to establish the New York Etching Club in 1877.