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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0153

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[photo] Moonlight on the Truckee River [3]
Photo credit: William K. Dick, 1971
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 30 x 20 in (76 x 51 cm)
Inscription: l/l "Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, in red
Verso: "Moonlight on the Truckee River"
Provenance: In private collection; sold in 1970 by Hunter Gallery, San Francisco to private collection, San Francisco. Sold 8 August 2005 for $4750+17.5% by Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, as lot 94 in sale 13221.
Reproductions: William K. Dick photo #123 (color, 1971); Bonhams & Butterfields 8 August 2005 on-line sale catalog (color).
Description: A yellow full moon is partly veiled with a cloud in the upper center against a dark sky with an even darker cloud above. The moon brightens the rapids in a stream running directly from the center towards the viewer, who stands in the middle of the stream. Both sides of the stream are lined with tall conifers; on the left a single tree reaches to the sky while a dead tree on its left leans off toward the left edge; behind is more forest, and in front a log has fallen down the slope into the stream. On the right two trees stand in the middle distance with more forest behind, brush in front, and a dead tree on the ground hangs out over the stream. The sky has a warm greyish-yellow tint imparted by the moonlight. The lower part is quite bright, with inviting green foliage. (From the painting, 18 December 1989.)
Note: Paintings with this title have appeared in at least three 19th century auction catalogs but without enough information to either include or exclude the possibility that one of them is this painting. See Paintings known only by title for details.
In index(es): Title list, Lake Tahoe and environs, moonlight nocturnes and other scenes showing the moon, mountain streams through a forest, twenty representative works by the artist

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility