A painter who lived in Indiana, Ohio and Minneapolis, Barton Hays began his career as a portrait painter in Wingate, Covington, and Attica, Ohio. In Attica, he also painted two panoramas relating to the book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

After moving to Indianapolis, he went into partnership with daguerreotypist William Runnion and continued to paint portraits, becoming the city's leading painter of that subject. He was also a teacher at Mclean's Female Seminary, and William Merritt Chase was one of his students.

In 1882, Hays moved to Minneapolis, where he focused much of his painting on still lifes, especially fruit on small table tops in a "soft, atmospheric background."

Source: Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"...