A painter of landscapes and anecdotal genre scenes, A. Wordsworth Thompson was educated at Newton University in Maryland. After two years of work in his father's law office, he opened a studio in Baltimore and began drawing Civil War scenes for Harper's Weekly and the London Illustrated News. By 1862, however, he had left for Paris where he studied under a series of masters including Charles Gleyre, Alberto Pasini, Antoine Barye, and H. Adolphe Yvon. Before returning to the United States in 1868, he hiked through the Alps and parts of Italy.
Thompson visited Europe and North Africa several times in his later career, but New York remained his primary studio residence. He married Mary Pumpelly in 1876. The following year, he became embroiled in a dispute at the National Academy when he served on the Hanging Committee for the Annual Exhibition with Thomas Le Clear and Charles H. Miller. In response to criticism of the conservatism of previous Annuals, they placed many canvases by young, European-trained artists in places of honor. Despite a request from the Council to reconsider, they stood firm in their initial judgement.
The remainder of Thompson's career was less controversial. His paintings of colonial, antebellum southern, North African, and contemporary life were generally well received; A May Day, Fifth Avenue, shown in the 1880 Annual, garnered particular praise. For a time, he spent periods in the country at Owego NY. By 1894, however, he built a home which he named "Stonewood" at Summit.
