Frank Weston Benson

The Bather demonstrates the rigorous French academic training that Benson received at the Academie Julian in Paris between 1883 and 1885. Although painting from a live model was a common practice in Parisian studios, only one other nude figure study by Benson survives. During these years, he shared a studio with Joseph Lindon Smith, a fellow student from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The two maintained a demanding work schedule and an active social life. Because a European education was considered by many to be a prerequisite for American artists of the late nineteenth century, the studios of Paris and resort towns of France teemed with American students. In the summer of 1884, Benson and Smith traveled to Concarneau in Brittany, the residence of many artists and writers. It was the first of several summers they spent together. Benson and his wife Ellen Perry Peirson made their first trip to Dublin in 1889 and returned there four of the following five years.