Mount Tallac from Lake Tahoe

British-born Thomas Hill immigrated to Massachusetts with his family when he was young. He later found himself drawn west, eventually settling in San Francisco, where he made the grandeur of California the subject of many paintings. Even while traveling on the East Coast and in Europe, he continued to paint California scenes. He made annual sketching trips to Yosemite, Mount Shasta, and the White Mountains, and he kept a studio at Yosemite’s Wawona Hotel (now Big Trees Lodge) in his final years.