| Medium: | oil on canvas, lined |
| Size: | 30 x 20 in (76 x 51 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r, "F Schafer" in the rounded sketch hand |
| Verso: | On the lining canvas, "Castle Rock". On the frame, "Property of E.M. Clayes" |
| Provenance: | Sold by Mill Valley Western Gallery, Mill Valley, California before 1977. Sold by Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, September 1977, as lot 607. Sold by Slawinski Auction Company, Scotts Valley, California, 30 November 2008 for $800. Offered by The Victorian Decorative Arts Shop, San Carlos, California, December 2010. Sold by Slawinski Auction Company, Scotts Valley, California, as lot 9047, for $303 on 5 September 2016. Sold by Slawinski Auction Company, Scotts Valley, California, as lot 77, for $813 on 28 January 2018. Offered 29 April 2018 via eBay by "pannonius", Pacific Grove, California. |
| Reproductions: | Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #38 (color, 1976), 30 November 2008 sale catalog, lot 70 (color). |
| Site: | Standing on the North (Washington) side of the Columbia river looking West toward Beacon Rock. The geographic feature in the painting was named "Beacon Rock" by Lewis and Clark in 1805, but it was known as "Castle Rock" from 1811 until 1916, when the United States Board of Geographic Names restored the "Beacon Rock" name. [Meany, Edmond C., Origins of Washington Geographic Names, page 40] |
| Description: | The silhouette of Beacon Rock divides an orange sunset on the left side of the painting from blue sky on the right. Tall trees fill out the upper part of right side, while the foreground is covered with brush and wild flowers and a prominent boulder. The river flows below on the left. (From a color photograph.) |
| Identification: | Assigned, descriptive title, based on the name of this landmark at the time of the painting and reports of other paintings that were titled by the artist. The title "Castle Rock" on the lining canvas suggests that there may have been a corresponding inscription on the original canvas. An alternate title, using the modern name of the landmark, is used in the Early California and Western Art Research index. The title used by Mill Valley Western Gallery appears to be a misidentificaiton of the site. |
| Other title(s): | Pilot Rock, Columbia River (report of Mill Valley Western Gallery sale) ; Beacon Rock, Columbia River, at sunset (Early California and Western Art Research index); Castle Rock (Slawinski Auction Company sale) |
| In index(es): | Title list, Columbia River scenes, sunset scenes |
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