Born in Philadelphia, Joseph Jefferson grew up in the theater. Joseph Jefferson IV came from a family of actor-painters. His father and grandfather, Joseph Jefferson II and III were both actor-painters, however Joseph Jefferson IV was the most well-known. He started at the young age of four (1833) when he appeared in a play in Washington, D.C. He continued to act for over seventy years and was best remembered for his role as Rip van Winkle.

Although he was best known as an actor, acclaimed for such roles as the main character in Dion Boucicault's Rip Van Winkle, Jefferson was an avid painter in his spare time. Jefferson exhibited his work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1868 and th...