F. Schmidt

The painting is signed F. Schmidt in the lower right corner. Based on census documents and local directories from the 1870s, we have identified two candidates living in Oakland around this time. The first is Frederick Schmidt, who is listed as an artist residing at 801 East Fourteenth Street in the 1875 Bishop’s Oakland Directory.

The second is Forest Schmidt, who, in the 1880 Alameda County census, was listed as a painter born in Wisconsin around 1855 and a resident of 512 8th Street. Forest may have changed his last name to Smith, for in the 1910 census of Oakland, a Forest Smith, also from Wisconsin and born around 1855, is listed with his wife and their two sons, Milton and Clarence. It is also possible that Frederick and Forest Schmidt are the same person.