Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

A European or South American “F. Schäfer”.

A dozen or so oil and watercolor (or gouache) cityscapes of European (Paris, Salzburg, Toulouse, and perhaps Amsterdam) and South American (Buenos Aires) scenes have emerged bearing the signature "F. Schäfer" in a square lettering hand that is quite different from that of Frederick Ferdinand Schafer. The subject matter, composition style, palette, and signature are all quite different from those characteristic of Frederick Ferdinand Schafer, so it seems likely that this is a different artist.

The canvases appear to be old and the figures in some of the paintings are in Victorian dress, suggesting a date around 1900. A painting of Avenue de Mayo in Buenos Aires depicts 1930s automobiles, so the artist must have still been active then. Most of the paintings emerged in Buenos Aires with one in Montevideo, Uruguay, suggesting that the artist is South American or perhaps a turn-of-the-century immigrant from Europe. Nothing else has been discovered about this other F. Schäfer.

For reference, at the right are images of five of the paintings and their signature inscriptions.