A versatile painter and important Cincinnati teacher, Thomas S. Noble received his first instruction in drawing from John W. Venable. By 1852, he was studying in the Louisville studio of Samuel W. Price, while working as a clerk in his father's business. After a brief stay in New York in 1853, Noble returned to the Midwest, conducting family business in St. Louis. Three years later, however, he traveled to Paris to become one of the favorite pupils of Thomas Couture. Noble was greatly influenced by Couture, but in 1859 he was once again in St. Louis, working in his father's grocery store. Following the Civil War (in which Noble fought for the South), he painted portraits in St. Louis before moving to New York in October 1866.
Although he had served in the Confederate army, Noble received almost immediate acclaim for anti-slavery paintings such as The Slave Mart, which toured the east coast and the Midwest to favorable reviews. In 1868 he married Mary C. Hogan, of Memphis TN, and soon after, he was invited to come to Cincinnati as head of the new McMicken School of Design. Despite some local opposition to his appointment, Noble was successful in incorporating a Ruskinian curriculum of fine and industrial arts.
Through his students, Noble became interested in the teachings of the Munich school, and in 1881 he took a leave of absence to study there with the Royal Academy's Alexander von Wagner. After traveling through Europe, he returned to his post in 1883 at the newly created Cincinnati Museum Association Art School. The following year, the National Academy Council voted to terminate Noble's status as an associate member because of his failure to exhibit in the annual exhibitions. He remained in Cincinnati until 1904, the year of his retirement, [in DUVENECK, he takes over from Noble in 1903] when he moved to New York and settled in Brooklyn. There, he executed small seascapes until his death by appendicitis. A traveling retrospective of his work was held after his death, appearing in New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago.
