Gustave Caillebotte was born in Paris on August 19, 1848. He was best known as a generous patron of the French Impressionists, but he was a gifted artist as well. He earned a law degree, but he also attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He then studied with a lesser-known teacher of painting, the Spanish-trained Leon Bonnat. In 1874 he met Degas, Monet and Renoir and helped organize the first impressionist exhibition in Paris the same year. And he came into his inheritance when his father died about that same time.

Actually Caillebotte was a fabulouly wealthy man whose work was not seen for years because he had no need to sell it, or even have a dealer. In fact, he was a purchaser of art on a grand scale...