Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Robert C. Joy attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1927–28. In 1932, he moved to Houston. There, James H. Chillman, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gave him his first one-man exhibition, and Joy went on to teach art at the museum’s art school (now the Glassell School of Art). In the 1940s, he began painting portraits; during the next forty years, he completed over 350 works of Texas political, business, and social leaders. He painted this portrait of Miss Ima Hogg in 1971, which has long been one of a small number of iconic images of Bayou Bend’s founder.

Bayou Bend’s founder Miss Ima Hogg was born in 1882 to James Stephen Hogg and Sarah Stinson Hogg. Her father became the first native-born governor of Texas, serving in that office from 1891 to 1895. As a young woman, Miss Hogg had a keen interest in the piano, studying in both New York and Berlin. In the 1920s, she became interested in American antiques and was soon collecting avidly. In 1926, she and her brothers Will and Mike commissioned Houston architect John Staub to design a new residence for them, which would be called Bayou Bend. Following Mike Hogg’s marriage in 1929 and Will’s death in 1930, Bayou Bend became Miss Ima’s home. In 1957, Miss Hogg deeded Bayou Bend to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which opened it to the public in 1966. Today, Bayou Bend displays and interprets fine and decorative arts made and used in America from the late 1600s to about 1876, including objects that Miss Hogg collected as well as those acquired by the museum.