Weir’s four years in Europe were exactly the intense experience with art his father was wanting for his son. Julian not only studied techniques, but also discovered the rich art history that Europe was known for. Weir traveled extensively, enraptured by visits to rural France, Spain, Holland, England and seeing the artwork and scenery they presented. “Yes John,” Weir wrote to his brother from Holland, “a man could afford to starve for the sake of seeing these great wonders.” Back in Paris, worn out from his travels, Weir spent his Saturday afternoons at the Louvre museum for "recuperation." Throughout, Weir continued his own art studies, being taught by Jean-Léon Gérôme, who was himself considered a master. His teaching was effective, and Weir won the top award in Gerome’s studio, and also exhibited at the Paris Salon. Yet even as Weir learned the strict rules of art in the academic style, he was already formulating his own ideas which would foreshadow his later switch to Impressionism. “To me,” he wrote in 1876, “there are no rules except those which your own feelings suggest and he who renders nature to make one feel the sentiment of such, to me is the greatest man.”
