Background
Ford was born in Livonia, New New York
Ford was born in Livonia, New New York
He studied art in Paris and Florence late in the 1850s.
His depictions of California"s missions were partially responsible for the revival of interest in the state"s Spanish heritage. During the Civil War, he was a soldier assigned to prepare illustrations of interest to the military. After the war, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where, in 1871, his studio was destroyed in the "Great Fire".
In 1875 he settled in Santa Barbara, California, where he would live out his days.
Ford traveled by horse and buggy to each of the twenty-one Spanish missions in California, where he created a historically important portfolio of watercolors, oils, and etchings. His depictions of the missions were (in part) responsible for the revival of interest in the state"s Spanish heritage, and indirectly for the restoration of the missions themselves.
Ford died in 1894 in Santa Barbara.