River Landscape. Oil on canvas. Signed 'Edward R. Hill' and indistinctly dated lower left. Sight measures 29 in. high x 24.5 in. wide, (with frame 38 in. high x 33 in. wide).

Edward Rufus Hill was born in Massachusetts in 1851, the son of painter Thomas Hill. The younger Hill studied painting with his father and often accompanied him on painting trips. On account of his father's health, the family left the East Coast and made the overland journey to San Francisco in 1861. He was married and divorced three times, once to artist Levina Baker. His small landscapes of northern California were often done on cigar box tops. Hill was active in California until his death in Oakland in 1908, just four months prior to his father's demise. He exhibited at the San Francisco Art Association in 1873 and the Boston Art Club in 1883. His work is in the collection of the Society of California Pioneers, the Oregon Historical Society and the Oakland Museum.