Herbert Cyrus Farnum

Who was Herbert Cyrus Farnum?

Herbert Cyrus Farnum was an American artist born in Glocester, Rhode Island. "Cy" Farnum, as he was more generally known, was a son of Cyrus A. and Mary Farnum. He was a descendant from old New England settlers who trace their history to Ralph and Alice Farnham of England who settled in Ipswich, Ma. in 1635. The first of the name to settle in Rhode Island was John Farnum, a grandson of Ralph the immigrant, who moved from Uxbridge, Ma. to Georgiaville, R.I. in 1755.

As a boy he gave evidence of the great talent that he later developed as an artist. He was a pupil of the Rhode Island School of Design. H. Cyrus studied at the Academie Julian in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant where he won several awards for drawings. He also studied at Académie Colarossi in the evening, studying figure drawing under Jean-Léon Gérôme and Castaigne.He also had the advantage of criticism from Adolphe William Bouguereau. His most remarkable canvas of that period was his "Tarantella".

On July 21, 1896, a large landscape entitled "Piccolo Piazza, Ana Capri" was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, a distinction accorded few American artists.