San Francisco

View Similar Items

Adolphe APPIAN - Le Village de Chanaz - Etching by Appian - 1860s

Giuseppe Vasi - S. Salvatore Church - Offset after Giuseppe Vasi - Early 20th Century

Paul Emile Colin - The Letter - Etching by Paul Emile Colin - 1930s

Louis Bouquet - View of the Silla oil Caracas - Etching by Louis Bouquet - 1814

James Abbott McNeill Whistler - The Fair

Amadée Feau - The River By Meadow - Original Etching by Amadée Feau - 1921

Bettino Craxi - Radicofani - Original Etching by Bettino Craxi - 1980s

Georges-Henri Tribout - The Bridge -Original Etching by George-Henri Tribout - Early 20th Century

Georges-Henri Tribout - Viking -Original Etching by George-Henri Tribout - 1940s

Georges-Henri Tribout - Men at Work -Original Etching by George-Henri Tribout - 1940s

Georges-Henri Tribout - View of the River - Etching by George-Henri Tribout - Early 20th Century

Georges-Henri Tribout - Landscape -Original Etching by George-Henri Tribout - Early 20th Century

About the Item

San Francisco. 1855-56. Etching on steel, based upon photographs. Delteil-Wright catalog 73; Schneiderman catalog 54 state iv (with lettering). 9 1/2 x 39 1/4 (sheet - sight size 8 1/8 x 38 1/2). frame 16 x 45 1/2). Printed by A. Delâtre in an edition of 100. A rich lifetime impression printed on laid japan paper. A rich, bright impression in good condition. Provenance: Property from the Credit Suisse Americana Collection. Signed and dated in the plate. Annotated in the plate, "Imprimée chez A. Delâtre, rue du Fbg Poissonnièr 145, Paris." The etching is elegantly presented in a silk mat with a gold liner and a 16 x 45 1/2-inch gold leaf frame. In the spring of 1856 from François Louis Alfred Pioche (1818-1872), a banker, investor and art collector, who traveled between his native Paris and his adopted home of San Francisco. Pioche had made his fortune in San Francisco, but was back in Paris seeking investors for his rapidly growing American business interests. Poiche asked Meryon to create a panoramic landscape of San Francisco, although the artist had never been there. For inspiration, he was given a five-daguerreotype panorama of the city (now in the Art Institute of Chicago), from which five large paper photographs were made for his use. While much of the landscape was copied directly from the photographs, Meryon added a cartouche to the center foreground with allegorical figures of Abundance and Labor, as well as portrait medallions of Pioche and his partner Jules B. Bayerque. The etching took nearly a year to complete. Meryon pulled the first proofs in September and finished some time that winter. San Francisco was a point of interest in Europe after the gold rush of 1848, as people from within America and abroad rushed to California to seek their fortune. The population grew rapidly, forcing the city to expand haphazardly with narrow streets that survive to this day. The large title cartouche is supported by river gods who appear to be holding sieves, a reference to the activity that was making the city rich. Meryon depicts San Francisco as a bustling yet still growing metropolis, rife with opportunity for the investor. There is almost empty farmland in the foreground, followed by a jam-packed cityscape, and ending with a busy port-scene densely populated with cargo ships. The symbols of California's wealth, gold mining equipment and a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables, surround the river gods, reaffirming the idea of economic promise. Inside the title cartouche are 2 portrait medallions - one of Alfred Pioche and the other of his business partner, Jules-Barthélémy Bayerque. Not long after finishing this panorama, the artist checked into the asylum in Charenton. Although he returned to Paris and his work several times, Meryon's final years were spent in Charenton, where he died of self-starvation in 1868.

Creator:
Charles Meryon (1821-1868, French)
Creation Year:
1855-56
Dimensions:
Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 45.25 in (114.94 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Medium:
Etching
Movement & Style:
Modern
Period:
Mid-19th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Storrs, CT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU33524389752

More From This Seller

View All

The Fair

By James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Located in Storrs, CT

The Fair. 1895-96. Lithograph. Way 92, Levy 144, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 135 state ii. Image 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 (sheet 13 x 9 5/8). A fine impression printed on antique cream-laid paper. Way lists 15-lifetime impressions (Goulding printed...

Category

Late 19th Century American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

James Abbott McNeill Whistler
The Fair, 1893

$2,450 Sale Price

30% Off

Night Shadows

By Edward Hopper

Located in Storrs, CT

Night Shadows. 1921. Etching. Levin 82. 7 x 8 3/8 (sheet 10 x 13 7 1/16).s Series: Six American Etchings: The New Republic Portfolio, 1924. Edition approximately 500-600. Illustrate...

Category

1920s American Modern Landscape Prints

Materials

Etching

Edward Hopper
Night Shadows, 1921

$48,000 Sale Price

20% Off

Stoops in Snow

By Martin Lewis

Located in Storrs, CT

Stoops in Snow. 1930. Drypoint and sandpaper ground. McCarron catalog 89.state ii. 9 x 14 7/8 (sheet 13 1/4 x 18 7/16 ). Edition 115 recorded impressio...

Category

1930s American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

Martin Lewis
Stoops in Snow, 1930

$35,000 Sale Price

30% Off

Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake

By Winslow Homer

Located in Storrs, CT

Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake. 1889. Etching, aquatint and burnishing. Goodrich 104. 14 1/4 x 20 5/8; sheet 18 1/2 x 24 1/2. Edition unknown but quite possibl...

Category

Late 19th Century American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Winslow Homer
Fly Fishing, Saranac Lake, 1889

$40,000 Sale Price

20% Off

Fourteenth Street. The Wigwam. (Tammany Hall).

By John Sloan

Located in Storrs, CT

1928. Etching. Morse catalog 235. state ii. Image: 9 3/4 x 7 (sheet 17 1/4 x 11 3/8). From the first printing of 100 proofs by Peter Platt. There were an additional 10 printed by Er...

Category

1920s American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

John Sloan
Fourteenth Street. The Wigwam. (Tammany Hall)., 1928

$2,560 Sale Price

36% Off

Shadows on the Ramp

By Martin Lewis

Located in Storrs, CT

Shadows on the Ramp. 1927. Drypoint and sand ground. McCarron 64. 9 x 10 1/2 (sheet 12 3/8 x 14). Edition 75 recorded impressions. A rich, tonal impression with drypoint burr, printe...

Category

1920s American Modern Landscape Prints

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

Martin Lewis
Shadows on the Ramp, 1927

$17,500

1860s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Adolphe APPIAN
Le Village de Chanaz - Etching by Appian - 1860s, 1860s

$360

S. Salvatore Church - Offset after Giuseppe Vasi - Early 20th Century

By Giuseppe Vasi

Located in Roma, IT

Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano is a vintage offset print realized in the eary 20th Century after Giuseppe Vasi. Signed and titled on plate lower margin. Good conditions. Gius...

Category

Early 20th Century Modern Landscape Prints

Materials

Etching

S. Salvatore Church - Offset after Giuseppe Vasi - Early 20th Century, Early 20th Century

$228

The Letter - Etching by Paul Emile Colin - 1930s

Located in Roma, IT

Etching and aquatint realized by Paul Emile Colin in 1930s. Hand signed, numbered and titled. Edition of 1/4.

Category

1930s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Paul Emile Colin
The Letter - Etching by Paul Emile Colin - 1930s, 1930s

$360

View of the Silla oil Caracas - Etching by Louis Bouquet - 1814

Located in Roma, IT

Etching realized by Louis Bouquet after Hamboldt. not signed. Very good condition.

Category

1810s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Louis Bouquet
View of the Silla oil Caracas - Etching by Louis Bouquet - 1814, 1814

$240

The River By Meadow - Original Etching by Amadée Feau - 1921

Located in Roma, IT

The River By Meadow is an original etching artwork on creamy-colored paper realized by French artist Amadée Feau (1872-1952) in 1921. Signed on the plate on the lower right and date...

Category

1920s Modern Landscape Prints

Materials

Etching

Amadée Feau
The River By Meadow - Original Etching by Amadée Feau - 1921, 1921

$180 Sale Price

25% Off

Radicofani - Original Etching by Bettino Craxi - 1980s

By Bettino Craxi

Located in Roma, IT

Radicofani is an original contemporary artwork realized by Bettino Craxi in the first years of the 1980s. Original Etching. Very Good conditions. Beautiful etching depicting th...

Category