Born in London, England, Dawson Dawson-Watson was a landscape, portrait, genre, marine, and mural painter and graphics artist who was the son of a popular English illustrator. He attended grammar school at Southsea, Hampshire.

His first art teacher was Mark Fisher, with whom he studied in Steyning, England. A wealthy local brewer then sponsored Dawson-Watson's art training in Paris that included classes with Carolus Duran. While in France, he also studied with Louis-Joseph Raphael Collin and Pierre Paul Leon Glaize.

The artist lived in Giverny, France near the home of Impressionist Claude Monet for five years, 1884 to 1890, and in 1888 married an American women, Mary Hoyt Sellar, who was traveling in Euro...