Born in Gold Hill of Placer County, California, Lorenzo Latimer became a prolific California landscape painter and highly respected teacher. He is best known for his watercolor paintings of picturesque views of northern California including giant redwoods, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The son of unsuccessful gold seeking California pioneers, Lorenzo's parents later moved to Santa Rosa. His father was an attorney and his mother died soon after the move when he was six. He grew up among the vineyards of Windsor, and after his father became a Superior Court judge, he moved to San Francisco at age 12.

As a young artist, he became friends and drinking companion of the famed Jules Tavernier. This relationship, although instructive in his artistic career, did have some drawbacks, limiting his productive output. But Latimer moved beyond these problems, and found success and fulfillment instructing young artists. Among his students was Sonoma County's Grace Allison Griffith. In the earthquake of 1906, he lost many of his works as did most San Francisco artists at the time. He relocated to Berkeley where he maintained a residence until his death in 1941 at the age of 85.

Source: Askart