George Story's professional career began at age fifteen when he commenced a three-year apprenticeship to a woodcarver. He also studied for several years with painter Charles Hine in New Haven. A year abroad with visits to European galleries completed his artistic education. Returning to Portland, ME in 1858, Story opened a studio for a year. He next spent two years in Washington, D.C., where he painted the portrait of Abraham Lincoln. After traveling to Cuba and Trinidad in 1862, he seems to have settled in New York City.
Story first exhibited in an NAD Annual in 1867, and by 1875, the year of his election as an Associate, critics were heralding him as a greatly improved artist. In 1889, however, he cut back his painting career to become curator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a post he retained until 1906. As of 1899, he was also curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum, becoming director of its art department in 1917.
