William Keith
(1838-1911)
Encampment at Yosemite Valley with Cathedral Rock
Oil on canvas laid to canvas
Signed lower right: W. Keith
18" H x 24" W
Other Notes: William Keith was born in Scotland, in 1838, coincidently the same year as his friend and fellow Scot, John Muir. A pre-arranged meeting of these two men, thousands of miles from Scotland, in Yosemite Valley, occurred in October 1872. In 1888, Keith and Muir traveled from Lake Tahoe to Mount Shasta, creating sketches to be used in "Picturesque California," which Muir wrote and edited. By this time, William Keith was in a transitioning period of styles and to some extent, painting under the reinvigorating spell of his friend and venerable Barbizon painter, George Inness.

A 1930's article in the "Art Digest" memorialized this friendship:

"In 1891, three years before his death, George Inness was in California, painting and passing many pleasant hours with his friend William Keith. The two were American's leading Barbizon painters, for so time has ranked them." There is some irony in the rumor that George Inness was said to claim Yosemite to be "unpaintable." To be sure, Virgil William, Thomas Hill, William Keith, and Albert Bierstadt would prove that rumor false.

After William Keith's first meeting with Muir in 1872, in a river encampment along the Merced (not unlike the one depicted here), the two gentlemen remained friends for another three decades. It is said that they were each other's fiercest critics. Nevertheless, they both held a common love and utter fascination for Yosemite Valley is what brought William Keith and John Muir together - and what kept them returning thereafter.

Visual: Overall generally good condition. Occasional areas of fine and stable craquelure, showing primarily in the lighter pigments used in the sky. The canvas has been relined.

Blacklight: A 6" H x 2" W area of touch-up in the mountain near the center of the work, and other pea-sized or smaller areas of touch-up scattered throughout.

Frame: 27.25" H x 32.25" W x 4.25" D Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.