Harry Ives Thompson

Harry Ives Thompson (31 January 1840, West Haven, Connecticut - 1906, West Haven, Connecticut) was an American painter, known primarily for his portraits and rural scenes.

He was initially trained as a merchant and helped operate the family grocery store; painting in his leisure time.

Upon turning twenty-one, in 1861, he decided that he would rather pursue a career in art and took lessons from Benjamin Hutchins Coe (1799-1883), a landscape painter from Hartford.

[1] Three years later, Coe retired and Thompson took over his drawing school in New Haven until 1867.

He also produced numerous portraits of notable people associated with Yale University.