This is an original oil by California artist, Theodosia Moore Durand dated circa 1893 in a gilt gold wood frame from the Sjaardema Art Collection. Theodosia Moore Durand was born to parents Armstrong Porter Moore and his wife Anna (Annie) Elizabeth Mastin, who went West for the California Gold Rush. Her father was a judge and was cousin of President James Buchanan (as well as being elected Recorder of Sonoma County, deputy county clerk and under-sheriff). Theodosia’s determination to be an artist took her away from her family in the late 1880’s, to San Francisco to begin her training. She went to New York and met her future husband, James Madison Durand. They traveled to England and then to Paris in the early 1890’s and be Paris trained in art only to later leave for Mexico, finding a colony of artists. They lived in Paris, Italy and Egypt and later, after the breakdown of her marriage, returned home (source Wright and Davis UK / Ted Harwood). This work is titled “High Sierra Mountain Scene” circa 1893 and shows an oil painting on board of the towering California mountains in front of a peaceful mountain lake, reminiscent of Thomas Moran, signed T. Durand lower left. The piece is framed in an original antique gilt gold wood frame, which shows some slight chipping. The art itself has been stabilized by a professional art restorer and amateur restorer and shows some cracking, glue work, secured to the frame, some slight loss around the outside edges but the central painted area shows well. This is an early original California Mountain Oil from a native-Californian dating to the 19th Century. Brass plaque along the bottom. Provenance: From the Henry and Jean Sjaardema Art Collection. Art measures approx.. 25.5” by 19.5” and the frame is 29 3/8” by 23 3/8”.