American etcher, painter, and watercolorist John M. Falconer was born in Edinburgh and emigrated to the United States in 1836. He settled in New York City and remained there for the rest of his life. He studied at the National Academy of Design, the Graham Art School, and the Brooklyn Academy of Art, and was a member of the New York Etching Club and the National Academy of Design. His prints deal largely with architectural subjects, particularly ruins and older buildings. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.