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Charles Meryon

San Francisco

Maker

Charles Meryon (French, 1821-1868)

Title

San Francisco

Year

1855-1856

Medium

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

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

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

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

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Henry D. Sharpe

Object Number

47.690

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Altered States
Etching in Late 19th-Century Paris
Jun 30, 2017 – Dec 03, 2017

Label copy

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.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Charles Meryon (French, 1821-1868)
San Francisco, 1855-1856
Steel etching and drypoint on cream-colored, moderately textured wove paper
Image/plate: 24 x 99.8 cm (9 7/16 x 39 5/16 inches)
Gift of Henry D. Sharpe 47.690

To request 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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