Robert Marshall Root

Robert Marshall Root (20 March 1863 – 21 August 1937), was an influential American tonalist and impressionist artist.

Robert Marshall Root was born in the city of Shelbyville, Illinois, on March 20, 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War.

Third and youngest son of John and Eunice Root, Robert showed artistic promise from an early age.

While in his youth, young Robert became enamored with the various magazines and comics that he would read at his family's general store in Shelbyville.

Upon graduating from high school in approximately 1881, young Robert was accepted into studies at the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City to pursue a career in the visual arts.