Samuel S. Carr was born in 1837 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1865. There is record of his study at Copper Union but he was largely a self-taught artist. Carr was a genre painter who specialized in pastoral scenes of children at play and bucolic landscapes with sheep. In 1879 Carr began to work on seashore scenes. The figures in the beach scenes were often repeated and reconfigured, having no direct interaction that left the painting with an eerie stillness. Pastoral scenes were quite popular in the 1890s and Carr often varied the times of day and seasons in his work. Little is known about Carr's personal life. He lived in Brooklyn with his sister and brother-in-law. He was, at one time, the president of the Brooklyn Art Club and a member of a Masonic Lodge. Carr often signed his work S.S. He died in 1908.

Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell