Francis Augustus Lathrop (June 22, 1849 – October 18, 1909) was an American decorative artist known for his creation of stained glass and other decorative works in churches and university chapels in the United States.
Biography
Early life
thumb|Dining room ceiling in New York City residence that was decorated by Francis Lathrop
Francis Lathrop was born on June 22, 1849, on a ship off the Hawaiian Islands. He was a great grandson of the American Revolutionary War General Samuel Holden Parsons. Francis Lathrop's father was George Alfred Lathrop, the American consul to the Kingdom of Hawaii. His brother was the poet George Lathrop.
Training as artist
Francis Lathrop was a pupil of the painter T. C. Farrer in New York City, and then studied art at the Royal Academy of Dresden in what was then the German Empire. After Lathrop spent four months of study in Dresden, the artist James Whistler invited Lathrop to study with him in London. However, soon after his arrival in England, the family's financial problems forced Lathrop to return to New York City. After a year of giving drawing lessons in New York, he was able to rejoin Whistler in England. In 1870, dissatisfied with the attention he was receiving from Whistler, Lathrop began working with the painters Ford Madox Brown and Edward Coley Burne-Jones. He also studied in the school of designer William Morris, where he devoted particular attention to stained glass.
Career
In 1873, Lathrop again returned to New York to help his family financially.