#200. El Capitan.

  24 × 36, oil on canvas. "Gilbert Munger, 1876" lower left; "El Capitan, Yo Semite Valley, Gilbert Munger" on back. Sold at Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco, California and American Paintings and Sculpture auction of 10 April 2006, lot 1145, for $150,000 + 15%. Family lore is that the great-grandfather of the consignor bought this painting from Gilbert Munger, probably in New York City, specifying that the river be "a little wider." The stretcher has a sticker from Goupil & Co, Fifth Ave and Twenty Second St. This label was being used by M. Knoedler & Co in New York City in the 1870s. The same pale white treatment of El Capitan appears in paintings #106 and #185. Image from author's digital photo.