Farquhar McGillivray Strachan Stewart Knowles was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1859, and came to Canada as a small child. He went to work at Notman and Fraser's and received art lessons from John A. Fraser, a co-owner of the company. In 1891, he went to Europe for six years where he studied first in England with Hubert von Herkomer, and later in Paris under Benjamin Constant, Jean-Paul Laurens, Henri Gervais and Veir Schmidt. After returning to Canada, he and his wife, Elizabeth Beach, established an art school. In 1898, he became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. He spent a year in New York in 1916 and moved there in 1920, although he maintained ties by returning often to Canada. After the death of his wife in 1928, he returned to Toronto where he died in 1932.
