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.