Robert Bruce Horsfall Collection

Robert Bruce Horsfall was born October 21, 1869, in Clinton, Iowa. As a child, he was interested in nature. He also displayed a great aptitude for drawing, one that led his parents to send him to the Cincinatti Art Academy. From there, he won a scholarship to study in Europe, and spent two years in Paris and Munich as a student. By the ago of 20, he had been the subject of a solo exhibition in Chicago, and his work was displayed at the Columbian Exhibtion of 1893. From there, Horsfall was recruited to work as a scientific illustrator for the American Museum of Natural History and to illustrate the Patagonian Report from Princeton University. He did illustrations for both institutions showing living animals, along with paleontological reconstructions.

Horsfall also carried out illustration work for such popular maganizes of the day as Century and St. Nicholas. Having built an extensive scientific knowledge base, he also worked for the state of Oregon as a biologist for two years. He also worked in partnership with William Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological park, and William Beebe, the famed ornithologist and deep sea explorer.

Horsfall came to live in Egypt, New York, by way of his son, Robert Bruce Horsfall, Jr. The younger Horsfall, an optical physicist, came to Rochester to work for Bausch & Lomb around 1940. He then went to Eastman Kodak before entering government service at Fort Knox.The elder Horsfall lived with the family in Egypt for some years, before moving with them to Tennessee to join his son at Fort Knox. While in Egypt, he maintained a small gallery in the home. He passed away on March 24, 1948.