Born in Dedham, Massachusetts, Alvan Fisher was a pioneer in American landscape, genre, and animal painting. He was one of the earliest Americans to rebel against painting only portraits, and as a result, became a pioneer of genre painting and landscape painting. However, his real love was the depiction of animals, and he was the first American artist to paint race horses..

Fisher was a student in Boston of John Ritto Penniman, ornamental painter. He first went to Europe in 1825, and then set up his studio in Boston where prominent artists such as Washington Allston, Chester Harding and Asher Durand became his good friends.

His records show that he sold nearly 1000 paintings between 1826 and ...