| Date: | not dated, probably 1880-1886 |
| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 31 x 50 in (79 x 127 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/l "FSchafer", initials conjoined in a monogram, in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, "S.F.", in lighter touch |
| Verso: | l/c "On Merced river, Cal.", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand |
| Provenance: | In private collection, Northern California, by 1979. |
| Reproductions: | Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #46 (color, 1979); William K. Dick photo #52 (color, 1971) |
| Description: | A river winds gently from the center to the right front under a blue sky with clouds on the horizon. A rowboat on the left bank is tied to a rock; farther to the left lies the trunk of a dead tree. There is brushy growth on the right bank with a three-trunked tree; there are more trees and wild flowers on the left bank. The sky and clouds are reflected in the water. The scene is done entirely in greens and blues moderated with grey; there is a little brown in the tree trunks. The sky is a sunset pink. (From the painting, 19 July 1990.) |
| Note: | 1. The initials "S.F." following the signature suggest that the painting was executed during the period 1880-1886, when Schafer had a studio in San Francisco. (A note on the back of the William K. Dick photo gives a date of 1884, without source.) 2. Two paintings with almost the same title were offered as lot 97 on page 7 and lot 195 on page 11 of the catalog of a 17 November 1885 auction in San Francisco but there is not enough information in that catalog to either include or exclude the possibility that one of them is this painting. |
| In index(es): | Title list, paintings not otherwise indexed by content |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img0052.jpg)