Mt. Diablo, San Joaquin Valley (1874)

Dated 1874, "Mt. Diablo, San Joaquin Valley" is an artwork by John Ross Key. About the period around 1874: The later nineteenth century is the era of Impressionism, whose first group exhibition was held in Paris in 1874, followed by Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and the Arts and Crafts movement. In the 1890s, colour lithography and Art Nouveau made the illustrated poster a celebrated art form. Landscape, a short history: Painters have used landscape to study light, weather, season, and the relation between people and place. The invention of paint in tubes in the 1840s made it easier to work outdoors, and landscape became a main subject of Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism. It is listed in the Landscape collection. The image is in landscape orientation.

Buying "Mt. Diablo, San Joaquin Valley" means getting a digital file, not a physical print: Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI, delivered by email once payment is confirmed. A 300 DPI file is intended for printing at home or at a local print shop, where you can choose a matte, satin, or fine-art paper to suit the room. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. A simple frame with a mat often helps an image settle comfortably into a room. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing.

American, 1754–1821

If you like the visual language of John Ross Key, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.