The Glory of the Heavens
William Keith (1891)
What do you experience walking at night in nature?
With its crimson and golden light, this landscape is evocative of California; it may have been inspired by Keith’s excursion to Monterey the year it was painted. The painting was described in a 1912 exhibition catalogue as “a poem in pigments, one of those rare poetic fancies, a song without words such as only a masterhand and spirit can call from the spheres.” Keith considered this work one of his best, exhibiting it in the California Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.
\ Artist
William Keith
American
Born:
1838
Died:
1911
Death place:
Berkeley, California
The Scottish-born William Keith moved to San Francisco in 1859 and developed a lifelong passion for the California landscape. He found success painting landscapes for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and these commissions financed travel to Europe to further his art education. On a return trip to San Francisco, Keith befriended the naturalist John Muir. Their remarkable friendship has been called “one of the important cultural transactions of the period in California.”
\ About
Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit
Presented to the City and County of San Francisco by Gordon Blanding