GEORGE GIBBS (American 1815-1873), Eel River, California, circa 1851, pastel on paper, sheet (oval): 15.25 inches, framed (oval): 21.5 inches, signed lower right. Note: George Gibbs (1815 - 1873) visited San Francisco as part of the 1851 Redick McKee expedition which explored the Humboldt Bay region in 1851. While there, he sketched the local Indians and scenes of the Bay. An 1851 painting of the Eel River, just South of Humboldt Bay, would be one of the earliest known professional paintings of that region, and thus historically quite important.