Jean Léon Gérôme Ferris was named after one of his father's (and, at that time, America's) favorite painters. Born in Philadelphia his early artistic training was as an apprentice in his father's studio. Later he travelled to Paris where he entered the atelier of William Adolphe Bouguereau. In 1884 and 1888 he visited Morocco and upon his return he exhibited a group of Orientalist paintings in the Pennsylvania Academy of 1887, 1888 and 1890.