Louis Kronberg (1872–1965)

Born in Boston, Kronberg studied at the Boston Museum School, under Edmund Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson, where he earned a Longfellow Traveling Scholarship. He continued his studies at the Art Students’ League, New York and, from 1894 to 1896, at the Académie Julian under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, and privately with Raphaël Collin. In Paris, he became enamoured with the works of Dégas and began to paint ballet and Spanish dancers in theatrical settings. Establishing himself in Boston, he was appointed instructor in the portrait class of Boston’s Copley Society of Art. His patron at this time was Boston’s great art matron Isabella Stewart Gardner, and hence his work is represented in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as in the museums of Boston and Indianapolis. After Bernard Berenson, Kronberg frequently went to Paris to buy art for the Gardner Museum. He lived in Boston until 1919 when he moved to New York City; in Algiers and Spain from 1921–2; and later lived in Palm Beach. Throughout his career he travelled back and forth to Paris. Kronberg was made an Associate of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1935. He was known for his philan thropic efforts and financed painter Arthur Clifton Goodwin’s career for over fifteen years.