Yosemite Valley

The present work depicts a location near Inspiration Point in Yosemite National Park. The same vantage point can be seen in Thomas Hill's Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite of 1871 in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California. The Yosemite Valley became Hill's signature subject following his first trip in 1865 and the artist received critical acclaim for his paintings' truthfulness to nature. The present work features what appears to be two trappers in the foreground, dwarfed by the grandiose beauty of the valley. Another view of the Valley from a lower vantage point titled View of the Yosemite Valley of 1885 is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.