Svend Svendsen, the eminent landscape painter,was born at Nittedal, Norway, March 24, 1864. At 12 years of age he was sent to work. During spare moments at night he experimented in painting and on Sundays he visited the National Gallery to wander among the old masters. He left Norway on June 15, 1885. He arrived in Chicago on July 4, 1886. In 1890 he married May Isabel Newton. He began to exhibit his paintings, but attracted little attention until five years later when his "Sundown Evening Shadows" won the Young fortnightly prize at the Art Institute of Chicago, creating a furore among art lovers. From then on Svendsen's name has been a household word in art circles in the West. All the men of wealth and culture bought his now famous sun-lighted snow scenes. Svendsen then visited Norway, bringing back with him material which resulted in a special exhibition at Thurbers, Chicago, and was a decided success, a majority of the paintings being sold during the first week. While Svendsen is entirely self-taught with the originality which results from having nothing to unlearn. Thaulow and his followers returning from Paris and taking up the "plein air" method then in vogue and practicing 2their art in the environs of Christiania in all kinds of weather was a revelation to Svendsen, and the pleasant change from the unnatural browns of the Diesselderf School to the fresh glorious color of the young realist left a patent impression upon his mind. Many more honors came to Svendsen: an honorable mention at the Nashville Centennial, 1896, and a medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis, 1904. They have five children. The family resides in their own cozy cottage at 491 George Street, Chicago.