William Gerard Barry grew up in County Cork, Ireland. He studied in Paris with the society portraitist Carolus-Duran, who had also taught the American painter John Singer Sargent. Barry worked briefly in London and in 1888 moved to Chicago to establish a studio. The Chicago Daily Tribune announced on his arrival that he “brings here the accomplishments of the most celebrated ateliers of Paris, the approval of the Salon jury, and the applause of the London public.”