Elizabeth G. Jerome was born in New Haven, Connecticut on December 18, 1824 to Hezekiah and Rebecca Gilbert.  She had an extensive arts education.  By 1851 she was studying with artist Julius T. Busch in Hartford, Connecticut, where she lived for many years.  She also studied in New York at the National Academy of Design and the Springley Institute. For a time she was also a student of Emanuel Leutz.  Jerome herself became a teacher, and her students included Nelson Primus (1842-1916), the important African-American portrait and religious painter.

In 1856 she married Benjamin Jerome, and the couple settled in Hartford, in close proximity to fellow artist Frederick Church's residence.  The bold colors, dramatic lighting, and stylish arrangements of Jerome’s still-lifes reflect the influence of Church’s South American and orientalist paintings. 

In the years 1866-1875 Jerome exhibited at the National Academy of Design. An 1869 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts show included one of her paintings.  After the tragic death of one of her daughters, she reportedly gave up painting for many years.  However, she could not altogether abandon her passion for her craft, and in 1904 at the age of eighty returned to the easel, where she embarked on an impressive body of miniature paintings which would carry her until the end of her life. 

At the time of her death in 1910 she was once again residing in New Haven.

Sources:
Roughton Galleries, Dallas, Texas
Courtesy to AskART from Brian Roughton
Who Was Who in American Art