Lot Essay
John Joseph Boyle, born in New York and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began his career as a stonecarver and subsequently studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. In 1877, he left the United States to continue his study of the arts at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris where he stayed for three years. Upon his return to the United States, Boyle became known for his heroic renderings of Native Americans and was celebrated for his sculpture Stone Age in America, located in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.