| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 20 x 35.25 in (50.8 x 89.5 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/l "ABierstadt", in red, initials conjoined in a monogram |
| Provenance: | In private collection, North Hollywood, California by 1961; by gift to The Oakland Museum of California in 1961. |
| Exhibited: | Pack-In Painters of the American West, Los Angeles, 1976 |
| Reproductions: | 1976 Exhibition catalog, figure 39; Hendricks, Gordon, "The first three western journeys of Albert Bierstadt" figure 19; William K. Dick photo #10 (color, 1971); monochrome photo in Archives of California Art |
| Citations: | 10 June 1970 letter from M. Arkelian to G. Hendricks, in the Archives of California Art artist's file on Albert Bierstadt; The Oakland Museum of California registration file, inventory #61.65. |
| Attribution: | Although this painting bears what appears to be the signature of Albert Bierstadt, the style, composition, palette, and brushwork all appear to be that of Schafer, and the appearance of Mount Shasta itself is virtually identical to that of Schafer's Sunset on Mount Shasta from Cape Horn and is very similar to Schafer's [Mount Shasta, California 8]. The painting, when acquired by the Oakland Museum, was initially attributed to Bierstadt, and it appeared with that attribution in the 1964 Art Bulletin paper by Hendricks (p. 347) and again in a June 1970 letter from the Oakland Museum to Hendricks. By the time of the 1976 exhibition it had been reattributed to Schafer; the photograph in the catalog of that exhibition is accompanied by the note "signed A Bierstadt erroneously l.l." It currently appears in the records of the Oakland Museum as being attributed to Schafer. |
| Site: | Mount Shasta, California from the Southwest, with Shastina at the left. |
| Description: | Sunset; the sun coming from the left strikes the peaks, a midrange hilltop, a high cliff at the very left, and some treetops, leaving the lower reaches of the peaks and the valley on the right in shadow. It appears to be late summer because Shastina has snow only at the top and in protected valleys. The lower left triangle is a bright hillside in yellows and greens with grey-white ground and two large boulders; several dead trees lie on and around the boulders. Grass and wildflowers in the foreground give way to brush, then a conifer forest backed up with the sun-struck cliff. A river appears in the lower center, leaving at the right front. Beyond the river on the right is the shadowed hillside, somewhat indistinct, then a series of higher ridges. The sky is baby blue with a few pink wisps of clouds. Four dark-green trees penetrate the sky. (From a color photograph and the painting, 15 July 1990.) |
| Note: | As of 1990, this painting was on loan to the Dunsmuir House and Gardens, Oakland, California, hanging on the East wall of the living room. |
| Identification: | Descriptive title of unknown origin, as found in Oakland Museum records. The 1976 exhibition catalog gives the size as 26.5 x 42.5 in; according to the museum registration file that dimension would include the frame. |
| In index(es): | Title list, Mount Shasta and Shastina, paintings currently held in museums and public collections, paintings probably attributable to Schafer |
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