Alexis Comparet (Alexis Compera) was born in Indiana in 1856. He studied in Paris under Benjamin Constant in 1874 before moving to Colorado. He settled in Denver where he studied under Harvey Otis Young. Comparet taught at the Colorado Academy of Fine Arts, Denver's first art school. He found a patron in Sarah Bernhardt, she met with him while in Denver for a performance and collected several of his paintings. In 1906, Comparet moved to San Diego, California where he spent the last months of his life.