4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2017.

Early Morning, Yosemite Valley

Artist Thomas Hill (American, 1829-1908)

Date1884

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions53 1/2 × 36 in. (135.9 × 91.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 62 × 44 1/2 × 2 in. (157.5 × 113 × 5.1 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Edward J. Brickhouse

Object number64.51.4

Terms

Valley view
Yosemite

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

Not on view

DescriptionOil on canvas painting showing Yosemite Valley in the morning. El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall are depicted. The valley has a waterfall on the right side and trees in the foreground. A group of three deer look towards the viewer.
Label TextThomas Hill American, 1829–1908 Early Morning, Yosemite Valley, 1884 Oil on canvas Golden sunlight spills into the hazy depths of the Yosemite Valley, washing across the steep face of El Capitan on the left. The thin stream of Bridalveil Fall tumbles down on the right, its lower reaches dissolving into clouds of mist. President Lincoln signed a bill in 1864 to protect Yosemite from development, and by the 1880s, paintings and photographs had made these geological landmarks familiar to many Americans. Like Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, and other painters, Thomas Hill traveled west to see and sketch these sights firsthand. Hill settled permanently in California in 1873 for easy access to Yosemite and other picturesque subjects. Gift of Edward J. Brickhouse 64.51.4