Myles Birket Foster was an English genre artist, best known for his Victorian-era illustrations of rural scenes and children. Born on February 4, 1825 in North Shields, England, Foster was celebrated as one of the most popular watercolor artist of the era. His idealized, sepia-toned countryside prints and paintings were popularized and reproduced on the cover of books, magazines, and chocolate boxes. Developing a love for the arts through apprenticing under the engraver Ebenezer Landells, Foster quickly moved from commercial printing to the fine arts. An autodidactic watercolor painter, he traveled throughout Europe to immerse himself in varied environments, finally settling in Witley, England where he produced the works which brought him widespread recognition. Before his death on March 27, 1899 in Weybridge, England, Foster exhibited over 400 paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.