View of Spanish Colonial San Francisco California Presidio, Golden Gate circa 1820 Native Americans
by Peter Ogden
Title
View of Spanish Colonial San Francisco California Presidio, Golden Gate circa 1820 Native Americans
Artist
Peter Ogden
Medium
Painting - Chromolithgraph
Description
This is a restored copy of a circa 1820 engraving of the San Francisco Presidio and Golden Gate by German-Russian expedition artist Louis Choris, 1795-1828. This view includes the southern hills of Marin County, a scene of northern California coast Native Americans seated around a bonfire and a Spanish Colonial man on a horse apparently marching a group of what appear to be California Native American Indian slaves or captives. In the background to the right we see an early wooden nineteenth century masted sailing ship, whaling ship or clipper ship floating in San Francisco Bay at the Golden Gate entrance.
So far as we know this is one of the earliest illustrations of San Francisco known to exist.
In 1786 French explorer, the Comte de La PĂ©rouse arrived at San Francisco and wrote a record of the place. In 1792 British explorer George Vancouver also visited San Francisco, allegedly, according to his diary, to spy on the Spanish colonial settlements in the region. Besides Western Europeans, Russian fur-traders also frequented the Bay Area. From 1770 until circa 1841, Russian traders occupied an area stretching from Alaska south to Fort Ross in Sonoma County, California. The naming of San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood is credited to the remnants of Russian fur traders and sailors living there.
Upon its independence from Spain in 1821, the San Francisco area became a territory of Mexico. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson constructed the first substantial homestead near the location of the Mission Dolores, near a boat harborage which is now Portsmouth Square. Along with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, Richardson created a street plan for the nascent San Francisco settlement, named Yerba Buena at that time after a local herb which was so named by Spanish Catholic missionaries who found the plant growing in profusion in the area. The settlement began to attract American settlers. In 1838, Richardson requested and received a large grant of land in Marin County and, in 1841, he moved across the San Francisco Bay to establish his home at Rancho Sausalito. Richardson Bay to the north carries his name.
Louis Choris was born in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire, now Dnipro, Ukraine to German-Russian parents on March 22, 1795. In 1816, Choris adventured to the Pacific and the west coast of North America while sailing on the Russian expeditionary ship Rurik, acting as a documentary artist for the Romanzoff expedition which was commanded by Lieutenant Otto von Kotzebue, which was contracted on an official mission to explore for a northwest passage.
It was is said by his biographers that Choris "painted nature as he found it". The basics of his art is realism and authenticity. His depictions from the Romanzoff expedition are generally believed to faithfully depict the subjects he illustrated. After the expedition of the Rurik, Choris traveled to Paris where he published a collection of his drawings in editions of chromolithograph copies. Choris produced much artwork using pastels and he documented the Ohlone people in the missions of San Francisco, California in 1816. Choris left France in 1827 for South America and where he was murdered by bandits on March 22, 1828, while traveling to Vera Cruz, Mexico.
The Fine Art America logo does not appear on the final product.
Uploaded
August 28th, 2021
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