Lot 82
Arthur Hill Gilbert(1894-1970)Bret Harte Cabin, Painted at Jackass Hill Near Sonora, California 12 x 14 in. framed 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.
25 April 2023, 13:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$3,570 inc. premium
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Arthur Hill Gilbert (1894-1970)
Bret Harte Cabin, Painted at Jackass Hill Near Sonora, California
signed 'Arthur Hill Gilbert ANA' (lower left) and titled on a paper label (affixed to the reverse)
oil on canvas
12 x 14 in.
framed 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.
signed 'Arthur Hill Gilbert ANA' (lower left) and titled on a paper label (affixed to the reverse)
oil on canvas
12 x 14 in.
framed 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.
Footnotes
Provenance
Trotter Galleries, Carmel, California.
Bret Harte (1836-1902) is best known for his stories of the Gold Rush. He participated firsthand, arriving in California in 1854 and staying until 1871. Over the years, and after working in a variety of diverse jobs, Harte was able to hone and craft these experiences into a body of work steeped in local color. He first working as a schoolteacher in La Grange (near today's Don Pedro Reservoir), and then, after the school closed, he took up mining near the Stanislaus River. He worked as a messenger with Wells Fargo & Co. Express and as a printer before ultimately finding his way to a life of writing.
Harte visited Jim Gillis at his cabin on Jackass Hill, the same cabin where Mark Twain (1835-1910) would live eight years later. Jackass Hill was named for the jackasses in the pack trains that rested on the hill overnight to and from the mines. As many as 200 animals performed a concert each evening and the area was named Jackass Hill to remember their evening song during the boom days of the California Gold Rush.