 He studied painting with Washington Allston, but soon went to Europe, residing principally in Italy for years.Brown spent much of his life abroad, and the motives of his pictures are usually Italian, and there is nothing specifically American about them either in treatment or sentiment.Among the best are "Sunset in Genoa" (1875), "Doges' Palace and Grand Canal," "Bay of Naples," "Niagara Falls in Moonlight."