Pauline Marie Mathews

Arthur Mathews painted this portrait of his niece when she was about six years old. “With a thick head of hair, rosy cheeks and big brown eyes,” she was the daughter of Arthur’s eldest brother, Walter Mathews. Mathews painted the portrait in his Montgomery Street Studio.

Mathews was born in 1860 in Markeson, Wisconsin, and came to California with his family at age six. The family moved to Oakland in 1867. In 1875, Mathews went to work at his father’s architectural firm. His two brothers also studied architecture. Older brother Walter was active locally and in Los Angeles; younger brother Edgar worked in San Francisco. Arthur Mathews eventually moved away from architecture and became known as a painter, furniture maker, and publisher.