Early in his career, Bellows became known for his idyllic, rural genre scenes in oil. However, he developed a keen interest in watercolors in 1865 and was a founder of the American Society of Painters in Watercolor, which published his famous treatise,   Water Color Painting: Some Facts and Authorities in Relation to its Durability. He also went abroad to England to expose himself to leading watercolor talents and in Antwerp was admitted as an honorary member of the Royal Belgian Society of Painters in Water Color. After the artist returned from Europe, many of his works were burnt in a fire that destroyed his Boston studio in 1872. He then moved his studio to New York and continued to exhibit at the National Academy, Brooklyn Art Association, Boston Art Club, Boston Athenaeum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.