Considered by many to be the father of American impressionism, John Leslie Breck was born at sea off of the coast of Guam in 1860, the son of a Naval officer of the United States of America. At a young age Breck had shown aptitude for the arts, and at the age of 18 he left to study painting in Europe. He first studied in Munich and then in Paris. Breck was the first of a group of Americans to travel to Giverny, where he decided to drop the more somber style of painting he had been developing, for the newly emerging Impressionist movement that was sweeping over Europe.

For the remainder of his life Breck would paint landscapes like the one pictured above, in very light pallets and with the imprecise yet emotionally evocative style of the Impressionists. The pioneering view of painting that he brought back to his home town in Massachusetts eventually came to earn him the title of the "Father of American impressionism", this could be tied to the solo show that he put on in 1890 in Massachusetts, which was one of the first of its kind in the States. John's love of light and shadow can be seen very clearly in this untitled landscape. The allure of Impressionism for Breck seems to be in someway tied to this etherial depiction of light effects that the style allows, and it is true that he became an American master of the style.

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