Charles Dorman Robinson was born in Monmouth, Maine.  At the age of three he moved to California with his parents. His earliest training was in the studio of Charles C. Nahl.  After Robinson moved back to the East in 1861, he studied with William Bradford, George Inness, and Jasper Cropsey.

The artist returned to California in 1874 and settled in San Francisco.  His first exhibition was at the San Francisco Art Association in 1876.  A series of marine paintings shown at the Sacramento State Fair in 1878 earned him several prizes and the recognition of the governor.  In 1880, Robinson began to summer in Yosemite, returning there annually for the next quarter of a century.

From 1899 to 1901, Robinson studied in Paris with  Eugène-Louis Boudin.  Robinson was a prolific artist; unfortunately, the earthquake of 1906 and a fire in 1921 destroyed many of his works.  Robinson frequently painted en plein air, but his works also reflect the Hudson River school training of his youth.                
                               
Reference: See Who Was Who In American Art  (1999).