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William Blair Bruce (1859-1906) was a Canadian painter during the 2nd half of the 19th century. Bruce got his artistic training first at the Hamilton Art school before studying at the Academie Julian in Paris, France. He trained with other academically trained artists such as William Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert Fleury. As a landscape painter, Bruce spent two years in Barbizon. This was a place known for being the home of the Barbizon school. He went back to Canada in 1886 after suffering a nervous breakdown but returned to France the next year and settled in the small village of Giverny. Bruce’s style changed throughout his lifetime which kept him from ever gaining recognition. He started by painting very conservatively with a focus on line and proportion and then gradually adopted the impressionistic style. He would go back and forth never sticking to one style or subject. William Blair Bruce spent the rest of his life in Stockholm, Sweden, and died in 1906.