Settlement in the Napa Valley, Near St. Helena, California 1885 Virgil Williams

Virgil Williams (American, 1830–1886)

Settlement in the Napa Valley, Near St. Helena, California

Signed, located and dated 'Virgil Williams./S.F./1885' bottom right, oil on canvas

20 1/2 x 39 3/4 in. (52.1 x 101cm)

Provenance:

Private Collection, Vermont (acquired circa 1890s).

By descent in the family.

Private Collection, Pennsylvania.

Virgil Williams was one of the most important artists working in San Francisco in the third quarter of the 19th Century. Born in Maine, Williams began his artistic studies in New England and first travelled West at the invitation of Alfred Bierstadt in 1863. After further studies in Italy, Williams and his wife returned West to Northern California, stopping briefly in San Francisco in 1871, before moving to their preferred and more tranquil setting of Napa Valley. Living near Mount St. Helena offered Williams a rural environment where he could hunt and make studies from both life and death of the local wild animals as well as the surrounding landscape (R.N. Post, ''Virgil Williams'', Calistoga, CA, 1998, p. 44). When Williams returned to California in 1871, he reconnected with influential fellow artists Thomas Hill (1829-1908) and William Keith (1838-1911) and together they enjoyed sketching and exploring the local landscape. ''Hill and Virgil thoroughly enjoyed the wooded areas and sun-dappled streams occupied with numerous wildlife and fish, and the large white oak trees on Williams' land, which Hill thought were so beautiful in nature'' (R.N. Post, p. 44). The present painting was likely executed in this period when the artist returned to California and was renewed by the tranquil setting near Mount St. Helena. Williams captures the countryside before him in realistic tones of green and brown which touch on tonalism but stay true to the representational tradition the artist studied in Europe and from American painters. In 1872, Williams became one of the founders of the Bohemian Club and served as president from 1875-76. When Williams was unanimously chosen to be the first director and teacher of the newly opened California School of Design, he declined to continue as President of the Bohemian Club to focus on his academic role instead. In Williams' roles in education, at the Bohemian Club and as an artist, he influenced generations of landscape painters that came after him and remains one of the most significant California painters of the 19th century.

Master Works by Virgil Williams can be found in:

The De Young Museum, San Francisco, California

The Bancroft Library, Berkeley, California

The Silverado Museum, Saint Helena, California

Bank of America Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina

Condition report:

The relined canvas in overall good to very good condition, with scattered abrasions along the left and bottom (right) outer edges of the canvas, due to frame rubbing. The paint has been applied thinly and we can spot the canvas ground in some parts of the composition. With a light scratch in the trees at upper left. Examination under UV light reveals very minor and scattered dots of inpainting in the sky (most likely old flakes) at upper center and upper right. With a 3-4 in. long repaired diagonal tear at upper right in the sky. The bottom of the composition itself appears intact, save for (rare) remnants of old greenish varnish at times, which suggest the painting has been selectively cleaned.