Thomas Hill 1829 - 1908 | In the Gorge - Yosemite

Signed l/r: T. Hill 1904 | Media: Oil on canvas | Dimensions: 36 by 54 inches

Verso: Label for R. Love Galleries, Chicago IL.

Thomas Hill, along with Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran and William Keith and other members of the Rocky Mountain school, discovered the West and began to portray its expansiveness. Born in England, he came to United States at an early age and settled in Massachusetts. He studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and became a well-known still life and portrait artist. The major turning point in his career came about in 1861 when he moved to San Francisco and started painting mountainscapes, for which he became famous. He was principally known for his views of Yosemite; however, his most famous painting is Driving the Last Spike, which commemorated the completion of the first transcontinental railroad and now hangs in the state capitol in Sacramento. Among the prizes and honors Hill received were the First Medal of the Maryland Institute in Baltimore in 1853 and the First Prize at the San Francisco Art Union Exhibition. In 1888 he built a studio at Yosemite where he spent the remainder of his life.

Source: Dorothy Harmsen, Harmsen's Western Americana, Harmsen Publishing company, Denver Colorado, Revised edition 1978.
Peggy and Harold Samuels, The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New Jersey 1976.

To the unaided eye, the piece looks to be in good condition. Under ultraviolet light there is fluorescence of artist's pigments, with a small area, shaped like an oak leaf, of inpainting approximately 33 inches from the right, 21 inches from the left and 6 inches down. This may be retouching by the artist as there are no other signs of restoration. The piece is framed in a rustic brown wood frame with silver leaf edges and a linen liner. The frame is in good condition with normal wear. VERSO: label: R.H. Love Galleries, Chicago, IL. Label: tattered, obscured old label.