J. Bond Francisco built a home in Los Angeles for his bride, the singer Nanette Louise. Their house became the scene of many elegant evenings with music and dancing, and Francisco once said that ​“the best things in life are the friends it brings to you” (Millier, ​“J. Bond Francisco Honored as Last Paintings Shown,” Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1934). He was as much a musician as an artist, helping establish the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra in 1897 and serving as its first concert master. Francisco founded a private academy of art and focused initially on portraits and figure studies, but he is better known for his later images of sun-washed California landscapes.