In his teens, Pape studied at the
San Francisco School of Design under
Emil Carlsen. He left the United States in 1888 for France where he studied in Paris at the
Ecole des Beaux Arts under
Jean-Léon Gérôme, and at the
Académie Julian. He also studied with
Jules Joseph Lefebvre and
Benjamin Constant at their private studios. Pape traveled extensively while in Europe. In 1889, he lived for a year in northern Germany among peasants and created his first large Salon painting,
The Young Spinner of Zeven, which was exhibited the following year at the
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The painting was awarded a medal at the
California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. Pape enjoyed a rapid rise to fame. In 1890, he traveled to Egypt where he lived and worked for two years. For nine months he lived beside the
Great Pyramids and
Sphinx, extensively studying and drawing the ancient monuments. Pape also traveled the
Nile River and trekked into the
Sahara Desert while living in Egypt. His works were exhibited in Paris; in Egypt at the Exposition du Caire; and in Chicago at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition ("The Site of Ancient Memphis" and "The Great Sphinx by Moonlight"). Pape returned to the United States in 1894 and married illustrator Alice Monroe in
Boston, Massachusetts on August 16. They had one son, Moritz Pape. Alice died in 1911. Nine years later, he married Alice Byrne in 1920. Pape taught for one year at the
Cowles Art School in Boston. In 1898, he established the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston. Among its many students were
N. C. Wyeth. His works continued to be exhibited internationally, and he was afforded the privilege of one-man shows at the
Detroit Museum of Art, the
Cincinnati Museum of Art, and the
Saint Louis Museum of Art. In 1901, Pape was invited to exhibit 97 of his paintings in the Palace of American Archaeology and Ethnology at the
Pan-American Exposition in
Buffalo; he won a medal for the collection. Continuing to rise in fame and popularity, Pape's works were also exhibited at the
Society of American Artists, the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the
Art Institute of Chicago, and the
National Academy of Design. Although highly prolific in fine arts, Pape also became a successful illustrator. He regularly illustrated articles for magazines, such as ''
Scribner's Magazine, Cosmopolitan, and The Century Magazine, and Woman's World
. Pape also illustrated a large number of deluxe edition books, including The Poems of Madison Cawein'' (1907) in five volumes; Henry James',
The Turn of the Screw, (1898); a special two-volume edition of
Lew Wallace's
The Fair God (1898) which included 272 illustrations. Pape traveled to Mexico for the book's illustrations. Additionally, Pape worked as a stage designer for theatrical productions, most notably for Percy Mackaye's
Canterbury Pilgrims, which was performed in honor of President
William H. Taft at
Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1909. In 1898, Pape designed the sets for one of the earliest productions of "
Trilby". In 1906, Pape designed and released a petition from Massachusetts to the
U.S. Congress to preserve the
USS Constitution. This illuminated scroll is now on display in the
National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C.. The following year Pape designed a bronze memorial to commemorate the founding of
Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was dedicated in 1907 at Gloucester, Massachusetts. ==Professional and social organizations==