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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0097

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[photo] In the Swiss Alps
Photo credit: William K. Dick, 1971
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 31 x 50 in (79 x 127 cm)
Inscription: l/r "F. Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, underlined, in red
Verso: l/c "in the Swiss Alps", 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 #48 (color, 1979); William K. Dick photo #23 (color, 1971)
Description: A river flows through a valley below a snow-covered rocky mountainside; a waterfall comes from the snow pack, and a second waterfall is seen high on a cliff to the right. A path along the right side of the river leads through trees to a yellow cottage with a red roof, and a figure is seen strolling down the path toward the cottage. The trunks of dead trees lie both to the left and right of the path; a snag on the river bank hangs out over the water. The left bank of the river is a shadowed rocky hillside, much darker than the sunny mountainside in the background. (From the painting, 19 July 1990.)
Note: The presence of dead trees and a river snag in a scene nominally in the Swiss Alps suggests that the painting was executed after Schafer's 1876 arrival in the United States, because deadwood is rarely found in European settings.
Other title(s): Swiss mountains (Early California and Western Art Research index)
In index(es): Title list, foreign scenes

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility