The son of a wealthy New York jeweler, Louis C. Tiffany received an unusual education at Eagleswood, an abolitionist, Fourier-inspired military academy in New Jersey. While there, he may have begun informal study with George Inness. After a family trip to Europe in 1865-6, he returned to New York, enrolling in the National Academy Antique School for the 1866-7 season. The following year he spent in Paris under the tutelage of L‚on Charles Bailly. Once again in New York in 1869, he attended the NAD Antique School and came under the influence of Samuel Colman's landscapes. It was likely Colman's example which prompted Tiffany's 1870 trip to North Africa with Robert Swain Gifford. Orientalist landscapes and architectural views became one of his specialties.
During the following decades, Tiffany made frequent trips to Europe and North Africa. In New York, he helped found the Society of American Artists in 1877 and became its first treasurer. In 1879, however, painting ceased to be his sole interest. With Lockwood de Forest, Colman, and Candace Wheeler, he established Louis C. Tiffany and Associated Artists, a decorating firm. While the partnership did not last, it marked the beginning of his important career as a creator of ensembles of stained glass and furnishings. His work ultimately appeared in many New York churches, residences, and public buildings.
Although he was painting less, Tiffany served on the NAD Council from 1890 to 1893. A decade later, he built his enormous home, Laurelton Hall, at Cold Spring, Long Island, to his own designs. The estate ultimately became an artists colony for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, an organization he created in 1918. Two years before his death, Tiffany was honored at the National Academy on the fiftieth anniversary of his election as an Academician.
