Seymour Joseph Guy was born in Greenwich, England. He studied under Ambrosini Jerome in London, and came to New York in 1854. He began to paint portraits, and met with success, but afterward turned his attention to genre pictures. He was elected associate of the National academy in 1861, academician in 1865, and was one of the original members of the American society of painters in water colors in 1866. His subjects are chiefly scenes and incidents drawn from child life. He exhibited at the academy "The Good Sister" (1868); "After the Shower," "More Free than Welcome," and a portrait of Charles L. Elliott (1869); "The Little Stranger" and "Playing on the Jew's Harp" (1870); "The Street Fire" (1871); "Fixing for School" (1874); "The Little Orange Girl" (1875); "Cash on Hand" (1877); and "See Saw, Margery Daw" (1884).