| Date: | title implies 1886 | 
| Medium: | oil on canvas | 
| Size: | 13 x 25 in (33 x 64 cm) | 
| Inscription: | l/r, "F. Schäfer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, umlaut resembles a circumflex. | 
| Provenance: | In collection of the Historical Society of Southern California, Los Angeles; ; offered in 1995 by Spanierman Gallery LLC, New York City;  sold 12 December 1995 for $6,325 by Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, as lot 5131 in sale 6319, "American and European Paintings and Sculpture". | 
| Reproductions: | 12 December 1995 sale catalog (color). | 
| Citations: | Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall, California Art, page 81. | 
| Description: | A cityscape, the only one known to have been painted by Schafer.  A group of brown, two-story wooden buildings with integral boardwalks surround a brightly lit dirt yard.  Several figures are sitting, standing, and walking, including one dressed in blue and carrying two buckets with a shoulder-bar.  The buildings on the far side of the yard include one with a dormer and one with a small balcony projecting through the roof; several figures stand on the balcony.  The darker building on the right is viewed end-on; three doors face the viewer and a balcony is supported with five wooden posts.  At the right end of the balcony is a slender wood framework of some kind.  The sky is blue with some clouds to the left.  (From a color photograph.) | 
| Note: | 1.  In addition to the date in the title, Schafer is reported to have made a trip to Los Angeles in 1886, which helps confirm the date. | 
| Identification: | Title of unknown origin, from auction catalog. | 
| In index(es): | Title list, cabins, farmhouses, and similar structures, Southern California scenes, unusual subjects--still life, cityscapes, dated paintings |