Painter and printmaker Chauncey Foster Ryder was born in Danbury, Connecticut, on February 29, 1868. He began learning how to paint as a child, and left high school early to pursue formal training in Chicago at the Art Institute and at J. Francis Smith's Academy, beginning in 1891. In 1901 he moved to Paris, France with his wife, Mary, to take courses in painting at the Academie Julian under Jean-Paul Laurens. The Ryders then moved to the Etaples art colony where they remained until 1907, and Ryder exhibited at the Paris Salon and taught privately to earn a living.

On their return to the States in 1907 they settled briefly in New York, where Ryder found representation with the art dealer William Macbeth, a professional relationship that would last Ryder's lifetime. They soon purchased a home in Wilton, New Hampshire, and in 1909 Ryder opened a studio in New York City. In 1910 he began working in printmaking, including lithography, etching, and drypoint, while continuing his work in oils and watercolors. Ryder exhibited frequently throughout the Northeast with the American and New York Water Color Societies, was a member of the Salmagundi and Natioanl Arts Clubs, and was a regular participant in the National Academy of Design exhibitions, at which made full academician in 1920. He won a silver medal at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and a medal at the Paris International Exposition in 1937.

Chauncey Ryder died in Wilton on May 18, 1949. His work is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery, among many others.