Lorus Pratt

Lorus Bishop Pratt (November 27, 1855, Tooele, Utah – December 29, 1923, Salt Lake City) was an American landscape painter and missionary.

After missions in Pennsylvania and Missouri, he made his first visit to Europe in 1879, when he was called to serve at the LDS mission in England, which was led by his father,[1] and assisted in organizing the current chapter and verse arrangement in the official LDS Church edition of the Book of Mormon.

In 1890, together with John Fairbanks, John Hafen and Edwin Evans, Pratt was awarded a two-year scholarship to study at the Académie Julian in Paris, where their primary instructor was Albert Rigolot, and they became known as the "French Art Missionaries".

Upon their return, they executed the murals and frescoes for the Salt Lake Temple, which was completed in 1893.

[2] Pratt's non-Church artwork found little acceptance, and some of his paintings were used to settle debts.