Matilda Lotz (Tennessee/California/Europe 1858-1923) oil on canvas landscape painting depicting cattle in a meadow with a pond or stream in the foreground. Signed lower right corner "Matilda Lotz". Sight – 19"H x 28"W, Frame – 37"H x 40"W. Provenance: Private Middle Tennessee collection. Biography: Matilda Lotz was born in Franklin, Tennessee. She showed artistic promise at a very early age, drawing the household pets and farm animals. During the Civil War, her family's home was commandeered by Confederate forces for a hospital. (It stands today as the Lotz House Historic House Museum and is open to the public for tours in downtown Franklin). Following the war, the Lotz family left Tennessee and settled in San Jose. In 1874 Matilda began a six-year course of study under Virgil Williams at the School of Design in San Francisco. While there, she won several medals and graduated with the highest honors. Matilda also studied with William Keith, and in the 1880s in Paris under Felix Barrias and the animal painter Emile Van Marcke. While in Paris she received an honorable mention for her work exhibited at the Paris Salon and was awarded two gold medals by the Paris Academy of Painting (the first woman ever to be honored by the Academy). Returning to San Francisco in the mid-1880s, she painted portraits of such notables as William Randolph Hearst and Leland Stanford. In the 1890s, she returned to Paris where she was closely associated with Rosa Bonheur for several years. She received several European commissions from members of British nobility for her animal paintings. At the outbreak of WWI, she was living in Algiers until she was expelled by the French. Abandoning her belongings and paintings, in 1915 fled to Tata, Hungary, where she remained until her death. Her work is in the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Oakland Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Center. (Sources: Interview; AAA 1907-08; KOV; Ben; CSL; WWA 1923." Adapted from Edan Hughes, ÒArtists in California, 1786-1940"). Condition: Overall very good condition. Tiny 1/16" hole, center, in trees; 1/2" scratch lower center near frame edge. Some minor losses and wear to frame.