Watercolor on paper, 11.375 x 15.25 in. (sight), framed to 14.25 x 18.25 in. Paper label affixed to frame verso reads, "This is to certify that the / water-color of a Zouave / is by my great-uncle / Norval Busey. / Mary Busey Fray / Bethesda, Md. / April 6, 1974."

Norval Hamilton Busey (1845-1928) was an American photographer and painter, active in both the United States and continental Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a young man, Busey worked at the Stanton & Butler photographic studio in Baltimore, MD before opening his own studio in York, PA. In 1900, Busey and his family relocated to New York, where he befriended members of the prestigious Salmagundi Club and developed an interest in painting. In order to further his artistic education, Busey spent time in both Italy and France, where he purportedly studied painting under William-Adolphe Bouguereau.