Have you ever heard of Matilda Browne (1869-1947)? Well, I hadn’t either until recently. Once again, I was taken by the paintings of a woman that history records as a prodigy.
Matilda lived in Newark, New Jersey, next door to Thomas Moran, a painter famous for his landscapes, particularly for very large paintings of Yellowstone National Park. Moran invited 9-year old Matilda into his studio to watch him paint and by age 12 one of her paintings was accepted to exhibit at the National Academy of Design in New York City.
Matilda spent the remainder of her life painting, specializing in farm animals and landscapes. She even traveled to Europe to study under notable painters of animals. It is said she was the only woman accepted in the all-male painters’ art colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Acceptance into the art colony required the member to paint a door panels within the Griswold boarding house where they all stayed. Matilda’s contribution was a scene of calves grazing beneath a tree.
Today, Matilda is considered to be a notable American Impressionist painter.
old spirituals 
she was very good!
LikeLiked by 1 person
wow, a real prodigy! She created such vivid color. In the Garden has extraordinarily beautiful color!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Both her choice of colors and subject matter, to use an old expression, “suit my fancy.” The first of her work I saw that drew me to discover more is The Unwilling Model. I can see in my mind a calf not liking the constraint of a rope tied to a tree.
LikeLike
I am pleased that Ruby and Judy like the post. Thanks to both.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder if Matilda Browne studied under Marie-Rosalie (Rosa) Bonheur, a highly respected female painter around the time of Browne. Bonheur is quoted as saying:
To my father’s doctrines I owe my great and glorious ambition for the sex to which I proudly belong and whose independence I shall defend until my dying day.
As reported in Daily Art Magazine, October 17, 2025:
Bonheur became the leading animal painter of her time. Her work was much sought after in the USA and Britain – art collectors, celebrities and even Queen Victoria bought her work. She was the very first woman to receive the Legion of Honour, the highest order of merit awarded by the French government.
It just makes sense that Browne and Bonheur connected when Browne was in Europe developing her talent for painting animals.
LikeLike