Painter. Willard Leroy Metcalf was an American Impressionist painter whose specialty was New England landscapes. Being part of a group of artists called "The Ten," he was an important member of the art colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut. "The Ten" had seceded from the Society of American Artists and exhibited together for the next twenty years. Born the only child of a farmer, he began his art education in Boston at age 17, studying under George Loring Brown in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He had evening drawing classes at the Lowell Institute and was the first student to receive a scholarship at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which he attended from 1877 to 1878. He traveled to New Mexico to do illustrations of the Zuni tribe of Native Americans for "Harper's Magazine." By working in an art museum and an illustrator for books and magazines, he was able to travel to Paris, France in 1883 studying at the Académie Julian and in 1886, was the first American painter to spend time at Giverny with the new-style of Monet's impressionists, which he did not appreciate at the time. In 1887, he traveled to North Africa, painting "Marche de Kousse-Kousse a Tunis," which received an honorable mention the next year at the Paris Salon exhibit. Returning home in 1889 to establish an art studio in New York City, he spent several years as a portraitist and illustrator and taught for a short time at the Art Students League followed with ten seasons at the Cooper Institute in New York. One of the paintings, "Gloucester Harbor," which was produced during an 1895 visit to Massachusetts, was awarded the Webb Prize when it was included in his exhibition at the Society of American Artists the following year. During this time, "Mettie" as he was called, suffered with depression, coupled with alcoholism. In 1902, his closest professional colleague, which he had known since his days at the Académie Julian, John Twachtman, suddenly died. In 1904, he traveled to Maine to live on his family's rural farm, to think about his life, stop drinking alcohol, and paint. This was a turning point in his life with his paintings being called "Impressionist Renaissance," with the subject being the beautiful New England countryside. Using his personalized technique of long, divided brushstrokes and muted-pastels with the brighter shades of the impressionists, his images continued to emphasize three-dimensional form, and fidelity to the natural subject. He painted with watercolors as well as oil-on-canvas. By the end of 1904, he had a studio in New York City again but continued to travel about New England. It was at this point that he became a member of the Ten American Painters, which was shortened to "The Ten." He along with other members of "The Ten" including J. Alden Weir, Childe Hassam, Frank Benson, and Twachtman were united by their rejection of descriptive art in favor of more subjective, innovative interpretations of nature. His 1906 painting "May Night" received a gold medal, when it was exhibited at Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He received numerous awards as a mature artist, including a gold medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915. His first wife was his young model Marguerite Beaufort Hailé, who in 1907 "ran off with another artist and causing great scandal" and embarrassment to him in his artist community. In 1911 he married Henriette Alice McCrea and the couple had two children. His 1917 painting, "My Wife and My Daughter," was of his wife, Henriette, and daughter Rosalind. Eventually, after a few years separated, the couple divorced in 1924. As his health declined, which was related to alcoholism and mental health issues, he produced some of his most famous paintings. He died of a heart attack. Besides his New England landscapes, he produced groups of people in everyday life for a total of over 205 paintings. His will, which instructed his executors to destroy any paintings that would "lessen his reputation," was largely ignored. In the 21st century, his 1906 oil-on-canvas painting, "Reflections of Spring," was brought as an item to the PBS television show, "Antique Roadshow," and it was valued at $150,000.