Thomas Hill, (1829-1908)

The Muir Glacier (Alaska) 16 x 22in framed 25 x 31in

The Muir Glacier (Alaska)
signed 'T. Hill.' (lower right) and titled in a later hand (on the backing)
oil on card mounted to board
16 x 22in
framed 25 x 31in
Painted prior to 1888.

Provenance
Property from a Massachusetts Family.

Literature
John Muir, ed., Picturesque California: the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope; California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, etc., Vol. 5, New York: J. Dewing Pub. Co., 1888, no. XLIX, p. 192, illustrated.

The present work depicts the Muir Glacier, discovered by the naturalist and explorer John Muir. In the early 1870s, Muir pioneered the scientific study of glaciers — glaciology — in California's Eastern Sierras. During a five year period, he discovered 65 'living glaciers' in the Sierras. His hypothesis — that the Sierra Nevada mountain range was carved by glacial movement — is now widely accepted, but in his day, it was derided by geologists in favor of fault movement.

Muir first visited Alaska's Glacier Bay in 1879 to test his hypothesis on glacial movement. He explored this rugged terrain with the help of Tlingit guides. His observations on glacial formations not only contributed to the scientific literature but also captured the public imagination. His travelogue was first published as a serial in the San Francisco Bulletin, and later as a book, Travels in Alaska, after his death.

In Picturesque California, Muir described Glacier Bay as the 'iciest portion of the Alaskan Alps.' 1. Containing five great glaciers, Muir Glacier is its largest 'at the head of a fiord with lofty, massive granite walls...When first observed at a distance of eight or ten miles, the ice-wall appears as an abrupt, sharply defined barrier about fifty feet high, stretching across from side to side of the fiord, a distance of several miles. Its height above the water is probably three or four hundred feet, but far from the greater portion is below the water and terminal moraine. If the water and the rock-detritus of the bottom were drained and cleared away, this magnificent wall of pale blue ice would probably be found to be not less than a thousand feet in height. Though in general views it seems massive and regular in form, it is by no means smooth. Deep rifts and hollows alternate with broad, plain bastions, while it is roughened along the top with innumerable spires and pyramids, and sharp jagged blades leaning and toppling; and when the slanting sunbeams are pouring through the midst of all this angular cut-glass of ice, the effect is a perfect glory of rainbow colors.' 2

1 John Muir, ed., Picturesque California: the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope; California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, etc., Vol. 5, New York: J. Dewing Pub. Co., 1888, p. 217.
2 Ibid.