| Date: | said to be undated |
| Medium: | oil on canvas, lined |
| Size: | 30 x 50 in (76 x 128.3 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/l "FShaeffer" in a variant hand. |
| Verso: | unknown, lined |
| Provenance: | Sold 27 September 1985 for $1045 by Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, as lot 3864 in sale 3580P to Christopher Queen Galleries, Duncans Mills, California (inventory record 153); sold 22 September 1988 for $6750 to private collection, Northern California; reported stolen shortly thereafter; title transferred to an unidentified insurance company. In private collection, Petaluma, California; sold 8 August 2005 for $7638 by Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, as lot 93 in sale 13221. Offered in January 2010 by Valley Fine Art, Aspen Colorado; recovered by the unidentified insurance company; sold 24 November 2011 for $3500 by Bonhams, San Francisco, as lot 2054 in sale 19411. |
| Reproductions: | Butterfield & Butterfield 27 September 1985 sale catalog; Christopher Queen Galleries photograph (color); Bonhams & Butterfields 8 August 2005 sale catalog (color); Valley Fine Art website (color); Bonhams 20 November 2011 sale catalog (color). |
| Citations: | Christopher Queen Galleries record 153. |
| Site: | Along the John Muir trail, in the Southern California Sierras. |
| Description: | A range of snow-capped mountains runs across the background, with the lake at the lower right. A brushy slope up the left has a few trees, with a large Jeffrey Pine at the top and one on the left that appears about to topple. A log on the left shore points out across the lake to the right; the line continues to the horizon along the top of the dark green forest on the far bank. Two large boulders stand near the lake. The sun brightens the valley beyond the lake. The sky is filled with clouds. (From a color photograph.) |
| Note: | (1) The site location and the tree identification are due to Arnold Wallen. (2) This painting was reported stolen from the 1988 private collection, recovered between 2010 and 2011, and following recovery once again had clear title. |
| Identification: | Assigned, descriptive title, as used in the Bonhams & Butterfields 2005 and 2011 sale catalogs. |
| Other title(s): | Southern Sierra landscape (Christopher Queen Galleries); Mountain lake (Butterfield & Butterfield 1985) |
| In index(es): | Title list, unidentified mountain scenes |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img1173.jpg)