Google Lens entry:Virgil Williams and his wife Dora owned a small ranch on the Knights Valley side of Mt. St. Helena. The couple hosted artistic and literary visitors at the ranch, including the painters Thomas Hill and William Keith, as well as the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. This landscape shows the view from Ida Clayton Road, near the ranch. This view of the Napa Valley is relatively rare for the nineteenth century—Williams was uniquely positioned to paint the area with intimate familiarity. Born in Dixfield, Maine, Virgil Williams studied art in Paris and Rome. From 1862 to 1866 he lived in San Francisco and accompanied Albert Bierstadt on his first trip to the Yosemite Valley. Williams settled in San Francisco in 1871, but he also owned a cottage near Mount Saint Helena, in the Napa Valley. The retreat became a destination for other California landscape painters such as Thomas Hill and William Keith, who joined Williams in exploring the region and in sketching the local scenery.-----------------------Virgil Williams (1830-1886)Knight's Valley from the Slopes of MountSt. Helena, 1873Oil on canvasMuseum purchase, gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Burgess Jamieson1997.29Born in Dixfield, Maine, Virgil Williams studied art in Parisand Rome. From 1862 to 1866 he lived in San Franciscoand accompanied Albert Bierstadt on his first trip to theYosemite Valley. Williams settled permanently in SanFrancisco in 1871, but he also owned a vacation cottage nearMount Saint Helena, in the Napa Valley. The retreat becamea destination for other California landscape painters suchas Thomas Hill and William Keith, who joined Williams inexploring the region on foot or on horseback andin sketching the local scenery. A local reporter noted:Virgil Williams is wintering on the upper slopes of Mt. St. Helena,where he is painting among the finest scenery, if not monarchof all he surveys, at least lord of the fowl and the brute whichcomes within range of his gun and pencil.San Francisco Bulletin, January 6, 1872