Richard DeTreville (1864–1929)
American, California

Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on November 17, 1864, into a prominent family of French ancestry, Richard DeTreville’s early life was shaped by a legacy of civic and military service: his grandfather fought alongside George Washington in the Revolutionary War, and at the time of DeTreville’s birth, his father served as Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Little is known of his formal art training, and he may have been largely self-taught.

In 1892, DeTreville moved to California, settling in Stockton, where he founded a small newspaper, Det’s Magazine. Around 1910, he relocated to San Francisco, working as a cartoonist for the Park Presidio News. He maintained a studio on Clement Street, where he exhibited his paintings, and his works were shown locally in department stores and galleries, including representation by Schussler Brothers and Sanborn & Vail.

DeTreville painted primarily in oil, occasionally in watercolor, and was highly regarded for his skill as a portraitist, though such works are rare. He was one of the most prolific early California painters, producing thousands of small landscapes capturing the beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and Northern California. The final years of his life were spent in Alameda, where he passed away on February 25, 1929.