In 1859 , despite his great success there , he and his six surviving children emigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago . He is believed to have left there sometime in 1868 , although there is evidence that he maintained a studio that was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire . Either way , he seems to have been induced to relocate to Indiana by his friendship with Col. Henry F. Blount ( 1829-1917 ) , who owned a plow factory in Evansville and may have been a source for commissions . His first portrait was of Mayor William H. Baker ( 1813-1872 ) , which led to a meeting with Governor Conrad Baker , the Mayor 's brother . This resulted in a commission to paint official portraits of six Indiana Governors ; three posthumous ( Jonathan Jennings , Ratliff Boon and James Whitcomb ) , three from life ( Baker , Paris Dunning and Oliver Morton )
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
James Forbes (portrait painter)