Among the first generation of American painters to live and work in Giverny, France, during the 1890s, Mariquita Gill applied the light and coloristic concerns of Impressionism to views of the Seine Valley, depicting grainstacks and poplar trees, as well as the lush flowers growing in her garden. Upon relinquishing her expatriate lifestyle, Gill returned to the United States, where she was associated with the artistic life of Massachusetts.

Gill was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, the daughter of a New England ship captain and his wife, Mary. It has been said that her name, which means "little Mary" in Spanish, expressed "that . . . exotic quality which Mariquita Gill always had."

Gill began her formal training in Bost...