Charles Rollo Peters, called "The Poet of Night", is best known for his Tonalist landscapes, especially nocturnes, with much of his subject matter being scenes around his home in Monterey, California. James McNeill Whistler, who promoted the Tonalist aesthetic in Europe, was a major influence on his painting, and "is reported to have said that Peters was the only artist other than himself who could paint nocturnes." (Gerdts)

As Peters matured, his life became increasingly tumultuous, but the one stable part of his existence was his painting. He continued to pour his emotions into his work, creating lonely, mysterious nocturnes with a palette of deep blues and blacks. The scenes were invariably dotted with a speck of...