John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics.

La Farge rented space in the Tenth Street Studio Building at its opening in 1858, and he became a longtime presence in Greenwich Village.

In 1892 La Farge was brought on as an instructor with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools to provide vocational training to students in New York City.

His first visit to Paris in 1856[5] induced him to study painting with Thomas Couture, and become acquainted with an artistic and literary social circle.

"[9] These included William James Stillman, George Henry Boughton, and members of the second generation of the Hudson River School.

In his lunette mural Athens at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, a building designed by Charles Follen McKim, the model for the central figure was the African-American muse Hettie Anderson.

[12] La Farge continued to create murals through his career: for the Minnesota State Capitol at St. Paul, at age 71, he executed four great lunettes representing the history of law.

Also among his final works were six murals on the theme of eminent lawgivers, beginning with Moses, for the Baltimore City Court House, now the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr.

[13] During an 1880s renovation of the Samuel J. Tilden Mansion, now home to the National Arts Club, La Farge was one of several artisans hired by lead architect Calvert Vaux.

In 1892 La Farge was brought on as an instructor with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools to provide vocational training to students in New York City.

At this time, stained glass had not yet been widely adopted as a medium in the United States, making his early efforts critical to its success.

[17] Possibly, as stained glass increased in popularity, drawing other artists to the medium, both La Farge and Tiffany decided it would be too much trouble to legally defend their patents.

[9] Together, Margaret and John had eight children: La Farge died at Butler Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1910.

[22] La Farge's writings include: His papers, together with some of those of certain children and grandchildren, are held by Yale University Library.

[23] John La Farge is a minor character in Anya Seton's novel The Hearth and Eagle, where he appears as a friend of the fictional artist Evan Redlake.