William Keith (1839-1911)

Details

William Keith (1839-1911)

El Capitan, Yosemite Valley

signed 'W. Keith' lower right--oil on canvas
21 x 14in. (53.5 x 35.5cm.)

Provenance

Berry-Hill Galleries, New York

Literature

B. Cornelius, Keith, Old Master of California, vol. 1, 1942, pp. 66-67, 375

Exhibited

Washington, D.C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, National Parks and the American Landscape, June-August 1972, p. 124, no. 95

Lot Essay

According to B. Cornelius, Keith at the request of his wife, presented Miss Helen Gompertz with "a grand strong realistic painting of El Capitan," which the artist had visited in 1875. Mrs. Keith had nicknamed Miss Gompertz "El Capitan" in return for her nickname of "Vernal Falls".