She studied in Paris, London and Rome during three European trips in 1870, 1873 and 1877, which were made possible by the publication in 1868 of her sister Louisa's book "Little Women". She traveled on at least one of the trips with Alice Bartlett and her sister Louisa May, where she "came into her own as an artist." She studied sculpture, sketching and painting. In Europe she found that women had greater educational opportunities than in the United States, but the art academies did not allow women to paint live nude models. For that, she studied under Krug, who managed to enable both male and female students to paint live models.