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Charles Meryon

San Francisco, 1855 - 1856

Description

Maker

  • Charles Meryon, 1821-1868, French

Title

San Francisco

Year

1855 - 1856

Medium

Steel etching and drypoint on cream-colored, moderately textured wove paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • etching

Supports

  • Cream paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 24 x 99.8 cm (9 7/16 x 39 5/16 inches)

Identification

State

state iii/iii

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Gift of Henry D. Sharpe

Object Number

47.690

Projects & Publications

Publications

Altered States

Etching in Late 19th-Century Paris
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Altered States

June 30 - December 3, 2017

Although Meryon, a Parisian, never visited San Francisco, he was commissioned to make this panoramic portrait of the city, working only from a set of five photographs. Because the images did not match up in perspective or scope, Meryon was forced to invent portions of the view—a process that he described as “tiresome labor.” The central plaque was likely intended to help resolve this issue by obscuring details of the buildings in the foreground. Figures symbolizing abundance and labor lean against the city’s name, accompanied by small round portraits of the men who commissioned the work.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is San Francisco with the accession number of 47.690. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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