Mountain Landscape with Cattle
Maker
William Keith
(American, 1839 - 1911)
Collections
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Date1879
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions30 x 50 in. (76.2 x 127 cm.)
frame: 44 1/4 × 64 × 4 in. (112.4 × 162.6 × 10.2 cm.)
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Dougherty
Label TextMountain Landscape with Cattle is one of Keith's bucolic California landscapes, an intimate scene featuring meadows, groves of trees, and a secluded stream. The mountain in the distance is probably Mount Tamalpais, which overlooks both the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay just north of the Golden Gate. Although man has left traces on the landscape by grazing cattle and wearing a long, meandering path, nature remains for the most part unspoiled. The idealized balance between human activity and wilderness found in Keith's work is also a prominent theme in depictions of America's east coast by Hudson River School artists.Keith settled in San Francisco in 1859 and was working as an artist by 1868. In 1869 he traveled through Europe, studying in Düsseldorf, Germany. The realistic style of this painting and its view from a valley into the mountains are typical of artists, including Albert Bierstadt, who trained in Düsseldorf.
Status
On viewObject number85.49
