Bellows was a Massachusetts artist who studied architecture but became a major 19th century landscape/genre painter and printmaker. He studied in Paris, France, and in Belgium. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Bellows had a studio in New York City and concentrated on the etching art. He was a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, the Philadelphia Society of Etchers and the New York Etching Club. He was one of the printmakers asked to contribute to the American Art Review.