Accession Number

983.784b

Description

An oil painting on canvas depicting a mountain landscape, the centre background being one snow-covered mountain, below it a forested terrain leading to a rocky cliff with a waterfall at the centre, the foreground featuring a turbulent stream flanked at left by a coniferous tree on a slope, the right a rocky cliff with a waterfall mid-ground centre, the foreground generally cluttered with fallen tree trunks and branches, the artist’s signature “F Schafer” at bottom right in rust-coloured paint.

Narrative

This painting was owned by Joan Olive Dunsmuir and sold from Craigdarroch’s dining room as lot #105 at the June 21, 1909 Dunsmuir Executor’s auction. It is one of eight Schafer paintings sold from Craigdarroch at that auction. The Mountain of the Holy Cross is in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in the state of Colorado (USA), west of Denver and south of Vail.

This painting’s history as part of the Dunsmuir family’s original furnishings of the house makes it a highly significant object in The Castle Society’s Primary Collection.

Jereome Saltzer, the Professor of Computer Science Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) wrote an on-line record of this painting which can be accessed here: http://ffscat.csail.mit.edu/ffshtml/descrs/FFSd0180.htm

History of Use

This painting was owned by Joan Olive Dunsmuir while she lived at Craigdarroch. After her death, it was sold from the dining room as lot #105 at the June 21, 1909 Dunsmuir Executor’s auction. The purchaser was Vincent Clinton Maddock. He died in Vancouver on October 27, 1972 and in accordance with his will, the painting was transferred to The Castle Society. Notes on file indicate that the painting’s transfer from the Maddock Estate is described in a James K. Nesbitt article published Victoria’s newspaper, The Daily Colonist, August 10, 1973.

Minutes of The Castle Society's Annual General Meeting held November 25, 1972 record that members were informed of the bequest. This notice was followed by Mr. Nesbitt's written report to members dated November 15, 1974 in which he said the Maddock painting(s) and bronze vase were in the Castle. 

The painting was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria from February-April, 1994.

Date

1880 – 1890

Dimensions

74.7 x 125 cm

Artwork Title

Mountain of the Holy Cross

Subject/Image

Mountain of the Holy Cross

Medium

Oil

Support

Canvas

Technique

Painted

Inscription

Printed by hand on the back of the canvas in a black medium is:
Mountain of the Holy Cross

Country of Origin

United States of America