| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 31 x 21 in (78 x 53 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r "F Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand |
| Verso: | l/c "Indian Pass to Freemonts Peak, Rocky Mtns", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand |
| Provenance: | In private collection, Northern California, by 1970. |
| Exhibited: | Torrance Gallery 20th Anniversary Exhibition, San Anselmo, California, c. 1970. |
| Reproductions: | Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #3 (color, 1970); William K. Dick photo #144 (color, 1971) |
| Site: | The peak in the center resembles Fremont's peak, Mount Lander, Colorado. |
| Description: | A snow-capped, rocky peak provides a backdrop in the upper center, with a valley lined with rock cliffs rising to the left. A prominent white boulder sits near the center left of the painting. Three Indians on horseback are walking away from the viewer, down a dirt road on the right. A foreground shadow extends to just cover two small boulders on either side of the road. A line of tall lodgepole pines crosses the painting at about the same distance as the riders. (From the painting, 19 July 1990.) This painting provides an example of Schafer's use of staffage (the Indian figures) as part of the landscape, rather than as a genre element. The figures are small, facing away from the viewer, and they serve primarily to provide a scale against which to calibrate the size of the mountains. |
| Identification: | A note on the back of the William K. Dick photo gives a date of 1889, but this date does not seem to be based on an inscription or other obvious feature. The Early California and Western Art Research index gives the title with the words Freemonts peak replaced by Freemont's pass. |
| In index(es): | Title list, miscellaneous other well-known landmarks |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img0144.jpg)