A painter born in Franklin, Tennessee of German parents on Nov. 29, 1858, Matilda Lotz showed artistic promise at a very early age and by seven was drawing the household pets and farm animals. During the Civil War the family home was commandeered by Confederate forces for a hospital (it stands today as a historical landmark).

Following the war, economic conditions forced the Lotz family to leave Tennessee and head West. In the fall of 1869 they arrived in California and settled in San Jose. Matilda's first art lessons were from her brother Paul and other artists employed locally by Wright's Photography Gallery. In 1874 she began a six-year course of study under Virgil Williams at the School of Design in San Francis

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"


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