Walter Allyne Gay (1856-1937)

He was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, and was a nephew of the landscape artist Winckworth Allan Gay. He was educated at the Boston Public School and the Roxbury Latin School. He began painting flowers in 1875 and went to Paris the following year to study art as a pupil of Léon Bonnat. He became famous for and is still lauded for his speciality: painting interiors. He was a constant exhibitor at the Paris Salon and his pictures were on display at the Tate Museum in London; the Metropolitan Museum in New York; and, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He received gold medals at Antwerp, Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Paris. He was a Life Fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, New York, and was created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1894. He was a Member of the Cercle de L'Union Artistique, Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, Société des Amis du Louvre, Société Nouvelles Paris, Secession, Munich, the National Institute of the United States of America. He was a correspondent of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1889, at London, he married Matilda, daughter of William R. Travers, 1st President of the Saratoga Racecourse. Famous for their devotion to one another, they were prominent members of the American Colony in Paris, their circle included Henry James, Edith Wharton, Henry Adams, Elsie de Wolfe, John Singer Sargent, Joseph Duveen, etc.