| Date: | undated; by 1894 |
| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 40 x 71 in (101.6 x 178.4 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r "FSchafer", initials conjoined, fraktur hand, underlined |
| Verso: | l/c "Sunset on Mt Shasta from Cape Horn/on upper Sacramento Riv, Cali", fraktur hand, brush on canvas |
| Provenance: | collection of John A. Anthony, Northern California; by gift to The Alameda Free Public Library, in 1894 (public). |
| Reproductions: | William K. Dick photo #14 (color, 1971); Alameda Library Clipping File photo (color, 1971); The Library administrative file contains a color slide and several monochrome photographs taken in the process of conservation. |
| Citations: | Undated note [Archives of California Art]. Bonhams & Butterfields appraisal of 4 March 1975, and painting conservation record of 3 February 1976 [Alameda Library administrative file]. Alameda Times-Star, 28 June 1922 and 1 July 1922. |
| Attribution: | Since this painting was presented to the public library in the town in which Schafer lived at the time, it seems very likely that the attribution is correct. |
| Site: | View of Mount Shasta, California, from the South, across the upper Sacramento River. |
| Description: | The setting sun (off the canvas to the left) casts a slightly orange glow on the snow cap of Mount Shasta, with the shadow of Shastina covering its lower reaches. The sky is a light but intense blue, with a few wisps of bright orange clouds. The view is up a valley from the left bank of a river. The further reaches of the slope on the left are covered with a conifer forest, in which two trees project above the horizon. Across a snow covered clearing, near the edge of the forest, are two standing dead trees, a dead tree that has fallen toward the right, and at the river bank a large boulder. To the right of the river is a brush-covered slope topped with a dark forest; on a point extending into the river from the right four very small figures--probably Indians--sit between two tepees beside a campfire. The river winds forward to depart at the right front edge of the painting. The entire painting is quite dark, with warm colors throughout; only the snow-capped mountain is bright. (From the painting, 16 September 1989.) |
| Note: | The painting hangs above the landing in the main stairway of the Alameda Free Public Library, 2264 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda, California. A plaque on the frame says "Presented to the/Alameda Free Public Library/by/John A. Anthony/1894". |
| Identification: | The Oakland Museum Archive note names the Alameda Public Library as the owner and John Anthony as the donor. The photograph by William K. Dick identifies the library as the owner. |
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