Accession Number

990.003b

Description

An oil painting of a landscape depicting Mt. Shasta, California, the double-peaked snow covered mountain emerging from mid-ground mist and a low hill, in the left foreground three prominent evergreen trees stand on the edge of a rocky slope, a group of aboriginal people near a rocky pathway in the centre of the painting.  Schafer's signature at bottom right. On the back of the stretcher is a paper label "Walter P. Jeune…"

Narrative

This painting was owned by Joan Olive Dunsmuir and sold from Craigdarroch’s sitting room as lot #395 at the June 21, 1909 Dunsmuir Executor’s auction. It is one of eight Schafer paintings sold from Craigdarroch at that auction.

Mount Shasta is a dormant volcano in Siskiyou County, Northern California. Its 14,179 feet (4321.8 m) peak is visible from Dunsmuir, California, a small city named after the Dunsmuir family of British Columbia.

Most members of the Dunsmuir family would have been familiar with Mt. Shasta because they would have seen it from the train during their rail trips to and from San Francisco. This painting’s history as part of the Dunsmuir family’s original furnishings at Craigdarroch makes it a highly significant object in The Castle Society’s Primary Collection.
Jerome Saltzer’s on-line record of this painting can be accessed here:
http://ffscat.csail.mit.edu/ffshtml/descrs/FFSd0228.htm

History of Use

This painting was owned by Joan Dunsmuir and sold from Craigdarroch’s sitting room as lot #395 at the June 21, 1909 Dunsmuir Executor’s auction. Its buyer’s name is unknown. The picture was consigned to Kilshaw’s Auctioneers in Victoria in 1990 and was noticed by Craigdarroch’s curator Bruce Davies in the showroom. It was then purchased by The Castle Society. Auctioneer Don Kilshaw later told Davies that the consignor was an agent of the Public Trustee in Vancouver who was settling the affairs of a Vancouver person who had died intestate.

Date

circa 1880 – 1890

Dimensions

79 x 125.5 cm

Artwork Title

Morning, Mt. Shasta, Cal. (Morning, Mount Shasta, California)

Medium

Oil

Support

Canvas

Technique

Painted

School/Style

Rocky Mountain School

Inscription

Morning Mt. Shasta, Ca. printed on the back of the canvas in black paint at the bottom right

Country of Origin

United States of America