A New York City native, visionary symbolist painter Pinckney Marcius-Simons spent most of his adult life in Europe, having been taken there as a baby by his parents. He did not return until he was age 25. He was especially known for the high coloration of his paintings.

Marcius-Simons was a visionary Symbolist artist, his subject matter included Gothic cathedrals, dramatic skyscapes, and heroic figures such as Apotheosis of Joan of Arc, Flower Fairies, Guardian Angels and Parsifal and the Knights.

Marcius-Simons began studying art at the age of twelve and took formal training at the Vaugirard College in Pairs with J.G. Vibert (1840-1902). Early in his career, his primary subject was sentimental genre and history, which he exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, but later he turned to idealistic, poetic works influenced by J.M.W. Turner and French Symbolism. However, he did not follow the strictures of the leaders of the Symbolists but incorporated aspects that suited his imagination and talents.