Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist known for his depictions of biblical themes, and was also the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner was born on June 21, 1859 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but soon after moved to Philadelphia, where he taught himself how to paint. He later enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1880 as the only black student, and studied under the tutelage of painter Thomas Eakins. In 1890, Joseph C. Hartzell, a bishop from Cincinnati, Ohio, helped arrange an exhibition of Tanner’s works. However, when no paintings were sold, Hatzell purchased the entire collection himself, giving Tanner the money to move to Paris, France in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian...