biography of Fanny OSBOURNE (1840-1914)

Birth place: Indianapolis, IN

Death place: Montecito, CA

Addresses: San Fran., CA

Profession: Painter

Studied: San Francisco Sch. of Des., with Virgil Williams, 1874.

Work: Silverado Mus., St. Helena, CA.

Comments: She and her daughter Isobel (see entry) were two of the first pupils at the San Francisco Sch. of Design. In 1875 she and her three children sailed to Europe for further art studies. There she met Robert Louis Stevenson, whom she married in 1880 in San Francisco. The couple moved to Samoa in 1890, where she remained for several years after Stevenson's death. Upon her return, she had a large house built in San Francisco, where she entertained and pursued a rather eccentric lifestyle.

Sources: Hughes, Artists in California, 415.