A. E. Ross or Artemas E. Ross [1862-1947] 
American
Ranch life, ca.1885
Oil on panel
5 x 8-1/2 inches
Signed at lower right : ‘A. E. Ross’.

Marking type: Faded script handwriting in pencil.
Location: Lower left middle verso.
Text: ‘Anniversary?’

Period original frame.

A. E. Ross or Artemas E. Ross [1862-1947] 

BIOGRAPHY
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A. E. Ross (Artemas E. Ross [1862-1947]) is an American cattle rancher (rancho) and painter, known for his landscapes.  Ross owned one of the most prosperous ranches in Nevada.  The Long Valley Farm in Long Valley (near Reno) owned more than 1,000 head of cattle (1882).  In the 1880s, Ross fought the Moran’s railroad / Nevada & California Railroad in California court when the company built across his land.  Ross is listed as a resident of Long Valley, NV from about 1887-1895.  He then built a home for his family, his wife Mary E. Ross [1847-1933], his son Bert T. Ross [1874-1903] and his daughter Irma Ross [1908- ] at 561 Middlefield road in Palo Alto, CA in 1895.  Ross is listed in Edan Hughes’s book “Artists in California, 1786-1940”.  He exhibited at the California State Fair, 1887 and most probably was trained in painting in San Francisco, where he is buried with his family.

SOURCES
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– Edan Hughes, author of the book “Artists in California, 1786-1940”
– The Weekly Gazette And Stockman, Reno, NV, “Personals Wednesday”, Thursday, November 3, 1892, page 3.
– Reno Gazette-Journal, Reno, NV, “Sophus Peterson saved”, Tuesday, December 31, 1878, page 7
– The Weekly Gazette and Stockman, Reno, NV, “Rodeo postponed”, Thursday, May 16, 1889, page 8.
– Pacific Rural Press, February 11, 1882.
– Reno Gazette-Journal, Reno, NV, Friday, March 29, 1889, page 3
– Find a Grave.com