Charles Rollo Peters


Charles Rollo Peters was an American oil painter of nocturnes.

Early life

Peters was born on April 10, 1862, in San Francisco, California. He studied at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France; where he was a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme, Gustave Boulanger, and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

Career and life

In the mid-1890s, Peters opened a studio in Monterey, California, where he became an oil painter of nocturnes scenes of the Carmel Mission, adobes, cypress trees, and the coast. He was a member of the Bohemian Club. According to the San Francisco Examiner, he became "one of the world's greatest artists." For the Los Angeles Times, he was "known internationally for his nocturne studies of Californian and European subjects."
Peters married his first wife, Kathleen "Kitty" Frances Murphy, in 1891. In 1900, he bought of land near Monterey, where he built a home and studio, called "Peters Gate," designed by architect Willis Polk. The couple had four children: Charles Rollo Peters III, Warren, and twins DeWitt Clinton and Kathleen Mary. After giving birth to the twins, Mrs. Peters died on March 16, 1902. Her two-year-old daughter caught fire inside the Peters home in Monterey and died December 9, 1904.
Later, Peters resided in Monterey with his second wife,, who was a painter.
His son, also became a painter. His son, Charles Rollo Peter, became an actor, theatre director, and scenic designer.

Death

Peters died on March 2, 1928, in San Francisco, at age 66. His work is in the permanent collection of the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, California.