Medium: | Oil on canvas |
Size: | Estimated 24 x 36 inches (61 x 91 cm) |
Inscription: | Unsigned. |
Verso: | Titled l/r "On Napa Creek California." in the artist's characteristic block-printing hand. Numbered u/r "72" in chalk in an unknown hand. |
Provenance: | In private collection, Salt Lake City, Utah; by descent in the family to private collection, Denver, Colorado. |
Attribution: | Since the painting is unsigned, attribution is a matter of judgment. The overall composition, treatment of clouds, illumination, botanically accurate trees, dilapidated fence, foreground wildflowers, cows, sailboat, and debris are all typical of Schafer's pastoral scenes. The block-printed verso inscription in the artist's characteristic hand confirms the attribution. |
Site: | Although the title names Napa Creek, that creek is much smaller than the depicted river. It is more likely that the painting is of the Napa River. |
Note: | A painting with the title Napa Creek was offered as lot 171 on page 10 of the catalog of a 17 November 1885 auction in San Francisco but there is not enough information in that catalog to either include or exclude the possibility that it is this painting. |
Identification: | Title from the artist's verso inscription. |
In index(es): | Title list, pastoral and rural scenes |