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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0639

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[photo] Carmal Mission, California
Photo credit: Owner's photograph, 2000
Date: undated
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 12 x 24 inches (30 x 61 cm)
Inscription: l/r "F. Schafer", fraktur hand, underlined
Verso: u/l "CARMAL.MISSION EST. 1770/CALIFORNIA", unknown hand; l/r "CARMALMISS/CALIFONIA", unknown hand, may continue under stretcher bar.
Provenance: In private collection, California, by 1956; to private collection, Houston, Texas, 1956.
Site: The mission San Carlos Borremeo de Carmel, located in the modern city of Carmel, California.
Description: The isolated adobe mission building, consisting of a cupola-topped bell tower, an arched doorway, and a smaller tower, with red tile roofed buildings behind, stands beside a trail across a grassy desert. A milepost and a small figure stand in front of the mission, back to the viewer, on the trail, which continues past a fence beyond the mission toward a gentle slope leading upward to the right. The sky is gray and cloudy. (From a color photograph.)
Note: 1. The modest size and the inscription that extends under the stretcher bar suggest that the painting may have been done on site. 2. A 17 November 1886 auction advertisement by Bovee, Toy and Co. that mentions "Missions of California sketches" may be related, and might help establish the approximate date of this painting.

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Apr 26, 2008, 13:36 MDT Comments, corrections, or questions: Saltzer@mit.edu