California landscapist William Keith was born in Scotland in 1838. He immigrated to New York with his family in 1850 and began training as a wood engraver in 1856. Keith moved to San Francisco in 1859 where he opened an engraving shop. He began studying with British still-life artist Samuel Marsden Brookes in 1863. Keith exhibited his watercolors in 1866 to critical acclaim. In 1868 the Oregon Navigation and Railroad Company commissioned Keith to paint landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and he officially ended his engraving business to become a full-time painter.

From 1869 to 1871, Keith studied under Albert Flamm in Düsseldorf. He also travelled to Paris, where he saw the work of the Barbizon School and studied old master works. After a brief sojourn in Boston, Keith returned to California. He met John Muir in 1872 and later supported Muir's campaign to establish Yosemite National Park.

Keith was something of a stylistic chameleon throughout his career. He greatly admired the realism and texture of the Barbizon School, and he eventually introduced a romantic, spiritual vein to his landscapes. Tonalist elements like deep, luminous color, and an emphasis on atmosphere characterize his later works.

Keith's paintings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, The National Gallery of Art, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, as well as in numerous other public and private collections.