англ In the year after the Civil War, most American painters received their training in Europe, the majority studying in the French schools at Paris or Barbizon, and a smaller number in Germany at Munich and Dusseldolf. The teaching of the Barbizon school, which stressed the use of colour and the creation of an impression or a mood influenced many American artists. One group of American painters led by James McNeil Whistler and John Singer Sargent, expatriated themselves from the American scene and settled in Europe. Whistler, who is often ranked as the greatest genius in the history of American art, was a versatile and industrious artist who was equally proficient in several media – oil, water colour, etching, and with several themes – portraits and his so-called “nocturnes”, impressionistic sketches of moonlight on water and other scenes. He was one of the first to appreciate the beauty of Japanese colour prints and to introduce Oriental concepts into Western art.​