| Date: | 1883? (see Note) |
| Medium: | oil on canvas, lined after 1999 |
| Size: | 30 x 50 in. (76 x 127 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r "F. Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand |
| Verso: | l/r before lining "on Russian River, California.", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand. u/r "S. 83." in the same hand. (The lining canvas is titled in a what appears to be a replica of the artist's hand, probably applied by the conservator.) |
| Provenance: | private collection, Berkeley, California, by c. 1935; by descent in the family to private collection, southern California by 1999 and again in 2020. Sold 6 May 2025 for $6032 by John Moran Auctioneers, Inc., Monrovia, California, as lot 50 in California and American Fine Art sale #308. |
| Site: | The Russian River flows into the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles north of San Francisco, California. |
| Description: | Three cows, two brown and one black, stand in the grass on a willow-treed point at the right of a river that flows gently along a sandy bank Behind the cows on the right is a steep, conifer forested hillside, at the base of which two snags lean amidst high brush. Only a bit of the left bank is visible, with two tall conifers and a standing snag. Upriver, under a cloudy sky, is another steep hillside on the right. (From the painting, 8 December 1999) |
| Note: | The speculative date is based on the otherwise unexplained and now covered verso inscription "S. 83." |
| Identification: | Title based on artist's now-covered verso title inscription. |
| In index(es): | Title list, pastoral and rural scenes, dated paintings |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img2062.jpg)