An illustrator for William Cullen Bryant's book Picturesque America and a painter associated with the Hudson River School of painting, Harry Fenn was born in England. He trained as a wood engraver before becoming a painter. One of his strengths was his ability to capture highly detailed topographical scenes, and much of his work was intended for reproduction.

He arrived in the United States in the mid 1860s purportedly to see Niagara Falls. He stayed for six years, went to Italy for art study, and then returned to illustrate his first book, Snow Bound by John Greenleaf Whittier. A second book illustration followed, Ballads of New England. These publications were the "first illust...