Robert Bruce Horsfall

Robert Bruce Horsfall was born October 21, 1869, in Clinton, Iowa. He studied art for many years beginning in Clinton when he was 14, and then he moved to Cincinnati where he studied under L.S. Lutz and Thomas S. Noble. In 1886 he attended the Cincinnati Art Academy, and In 1891, Bruce traveled to Munich, Germany, where he was a student of Professors Friedrich Fehr and Carl Marr. He later enrolled at the Bavaria Konig Academy in Munich under the direction of Nicholas Gysis, and also spent time studying at the Colarossi Academy in Paris. He worked for Rookwood from 1893 to 1896. His work was primarily in Standard Glaze, and he is most known for his portraits and his whimsical animal depictions. After leaving Rookwood, Bruce Horsfall created thousands of book illustrations of birds and mammals. Collector interest in his Rookwood pieces is considered to be above average. Robert Bruce Horsfall died March 24, 1948.