[3] His father was a leather merchant who owned downtown factories and warehouses on Gold and Cliff Streets, and became vice-president of the Bank of the Metropolis and the president of the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company.

He again went abroad, studying painting in Paris at the Académie Julian from 1885 to 1887 under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

It deserves high praise for its adequate treatment, sympathetic usually just appreciations, and pleasing style.

[10] On June 12, 1914, Isham suffered from an aneurysm of the arteries and died on the Maidstone Club golf course in East Hampton.

After his death, his estate presented 236 Japanese color prints from his personal collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.