Charles Ebert and his wife, artist Mary Roberts Ebert (1873-1956) , were active members of the Cos Cob art colony in Greenwich before moving to Old Lyme in 1919. During his early years in Connecticut, Ebert stayed frequently at the Bush-Holley House in Cos Cob, where he studied with John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), and was introduced to Childe Hassam (1859-1935) and Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919).

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised mostly in Kansas City, Missouri, Ebert began his studies at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1892, followed by a year at the Art Students League in New York. In 1894, he went off to Paris, where he studied at the Academie Julian under Benjamin Constant (1845-1902) and Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). Returning to New York in 1896, he opened a studio and worked as a freelance illustrator before landing a full-time position as Life Magazine’s chief political cartoonist. After four years, he began to devote himself Gallery, New York City, in December of 1909. Like so many of his Old Lyme contemporaries, Ebert took winter sojourns to Florida, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, as well as annual summer trips to Monhegan Island, Maine, where he worked in both watercolor and oil.