Walter Gay was born in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1856. His inspiration to become an artist came at a young age from his uncle, Winckworth Allan Gay (1821-1910), a landscape painter who studied abroad in France. In 1873 Gay moved into central Boston and rented a studio with landscape painter, John Bernard Johnston (1847-188). During this time Gay was taking night classes at the Lowell Institute, and supporting himself by painting still lifes. In 1876 Gay went with Johnston abroad to France. He fell in love with the country, and never again returned to the U.S. His first year abroad, Gay went to Barbizon, and eventually headed to Paris where he became a student of Léon Bonnat for three years. In 1879 Gay exhibited at the Paris Salon for the first time, and from then on he was a regular contributor. Around 1884 Gay switched his focus to genre scenes, focusing on rendering the figure. He portrayed scenes of peasant life in Brittany, women spinning or weaving were frequent subjects. He received much success, gaining many commissions from art dealers across Europe. He also gained membership into several art societies, most notably Société des Peintres et des Sculpteurs. However, it was not until 1895 when he rented his first home just outside of Paris, that he permanently turned his focus to interiors; the subject that he is most celebrated for today. He no longer included figures in his works, rather he paid immense attention to rendering the details of the objets d’art and the 18th century decor of the interiors he painted. His works do not simply show empty spaces, rather they capture the personality of the inhabitants of these spaces and the rooms themselves. In 1905 Gay rented the Château de Breau in Dammarie-des-Lys, just outside of Fontainebleau, France. The home was built in 1705 and sat upon three-hundred acres of land. In 1907 he purchased the home from the Comte and Comtesse de Gramont, who collected 18th century furnishings and paneling. When Gay bought the home he practically received everything inside of it. The home held a certain fascination for Gay, it became his primary subject in his paintings, for example The Green Salon, 1912 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY). When Gay died in 1937, many of the decorative arts from the home were donated to The Louvre. Today, three of his interior paintings hang at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and he is revered today as a master at depicting Rococo French interiors.