John LaFarge's first mural had been done…

John LaFarge's first mural had been done in Trinity Church, Boston, in 1873.

Then followed his decorations in the Church of the Ascension (the large altarpiece) and St. Paul's Chapel (Columbia University), New York.

LaFarge was born in New York City to wealthy French parents and was raised bilingually.

His interest in art had begun during his studies at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland and St. John's College (now Fordham University) in New York.

He initially intended to study law, but this had changed after his first visit to Paris, France in 1856.

Stimulated by the arts in the city, he had studied with Thomas Couture and become acquainted with notable literary people.

LaFarge had also studied with the painter William Morris Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island.

LaFarge's earliest drawings and landscapes, from his studies in Newport, show marked originality, especially in the handling of color values.

He is a pioneer in the study of Japanese art, the influence of which is seen in his work.

During his life, LaFarge maintains a studio at 51 West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, which now is part of the site of Eugene Lang College at the New School University Between 1859 and 1870, he had illustrated Tennyson's Enoch Arden and Robert Browning's Men and Women.

In the 1870s, LaFarge had begun to do murals, which become popular for public buildings as well as churches.