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Part II: Settlement, Expansion, and the Business of City Views
Canadian Cities

66
View of Victoria, Vancouver Island
Thomas Picken (British, d. 1870), after Hermann Otto Tiedemann (Canadian, b. Germany, 1821)
Color lithograph, printed and published by Day & Son (London lithographic firm, 19th century), 1860
Deák 751

Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria was founded by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1843. It served as capital of the Vancouver Island colony from 1848, and was capital of all of British Columbia when it became a Canadian province in 1871. The gold strike of 1858 drew many people to this attractive port on the Pacific Ocean, and the city grew accordingly. Hermann Otto Tiedemann was one of those who contributed to the city’s growth, acting as a surveyor, civil engineer, and architect for many public works projects. In his drawing, one of the last views to depict historic Fort Victoria, Tiedemann pictured the growing skyline and busy port from the vantage of the former village of the Songhees, a First Nations tribe.

There is a minor dispute as to the source of this lithograph: the 1933 collection catalogue notes that it was in the Tiedemann family’s possession until Stokes acquired it from the artist’s son. But Stokes’s correspondence with the architect Albertson in Seattle includes a letter from Harold Bernard, the young journalist who helped Albertson locate potential purchases for Stokes. He says that after asking at the local historical society, he contacted a Mr. W. H. Bone who had lived in Victoria since 1862. Mr. Bone was said to be a “personal friend” of Tiedemann. Reluctant initially to part with the print, Bone consented in the belief that he would “help complete a work of merit.”

67
Quebec, the Capital of New-France, a Bishoprick, and Seat on the Soverain Court
Thomas Johnston (American, ca. 1708–1767), after François Chéreau (French, 1680–1729) and Nicolas de Fer (French, 1646–1720)
Colored engraving and etching, printed by Thomas Johnston, published by Stephen Whiting, 1759
Deák 78

This engraving by Thomas Johnston is the earliest American-produced view of Quebec. It was issued upon the victory of British forces against the French, who had occupied Quebec since its founding in 1608, marking the end of the French and Indian War. Johnston hailed from Boston where he was a true jack-of-all-trades, working at various times as a decorator, builder, housepainter, church singer, song-book publisher, organ builder, and engraver. He based his view on a print by François Chéreau, engraver to the King of France. Chéreau had based his own view on an inset in a map by Nicolas de Fer, published in 1718 in La France Occidentale dans l’Amérique Septentrionale. De Fer was a prolific cartographer who published three major atlases known for their beautiful, if not entirely accurate, renderings.

68
A View of Louisbourg in North America
Pierre-Charles Canot (French, 1710–1777), after Charles Ince (British, 18th century)
Colored etching, from Scenographia Americana, published by John Bowles, Robert Sayer, Thomas Jefferys, Carington Bowles, and Henry Parker, 1768
Deák 108

The Scenographia Americana is a series of twenty-eight views of North America and the West Indies. Issued in London, it featured the sites and events of the French and Indian War. As stated on the title page, the views were etched “From Drawings taken on the spot, by several officers of the British Navy and Army.”

Captain Charles Ince drew this scene of Louisbourg, on the southeast coast of Nova Scotia. Under the French, the city was heavily fortified to control access to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It had briefly come under British control in 1745 when it was captured by New Englanders under the leadership of Sir William Pepperell, and fell completely to the British in 1758. This scene, along with the others in the series, aimed to celebrate Britain’s victories and growing empire.

69
An East View of Montreal, in Canada
Pierre-Charles Canot (French, 1710–1777), after Thomas Patten (British, 18th century)
Etching, from Scenographia Americana, published by John Bowles, Robert Sayer, Thomas Jefferys, Carington Bowles, and Henry Parker, 1768
Deák 111

The French and Indian War concluded with the battle for Montreal. British officer Thomas Patten recorded this momentous occasion, which led to the permanent end of French control of Canada. This view, like the view of Louisbourg (see number 68), was part of the Scenographia Americana, a series of twenty-eight views by British officers. First issued as individual prints in 1762, they were published as a set in 1768. An ambitious undertaking, the series was promoted by five London publishers. An expanded series totaling seventy-four views was later published under the same title. The series was very popular and served as the basis for many subsequent views and book illustrations published in the United States.

70
London, Canada West
After Edwin Whitefield (American, b. England, 1816–1892)
Tinted lithograph, from Whitefield’s Original Views of North American Cities, published by Edwin Whitefield, 1855
Deák 695

A pioneer in the field of self-promotion, Edwin Whitefield traveled throughout North America as an itinerant view-maker. He had a strong affinity for Canada, moving his family there in 1853, and some of his best and most successful views are of that country. Much of his time was spent on the business side of art production, as recorded in his diaries. He noted that he spent one day walking 26 miles in five hours in pursuit of Canadian subscribers for his lithographs. Realizing the need for help, he was one of the first artists to employ subscription agents, hiring the Smith Brothers and James Palmatary, who later established their own prominent firms. This view of London, Ontario, was one of forty-nine views included in his series Whitefield’s Original Views of North American Cities, which he self-published between 1845 and 1857.

Note to the checklist. “Deák” refers to the catalogue of American historical prints in the New York Public Library’s collections: Deák, Gloria Gilda. Picturing America 1497-1899. Prints, Maps, and Drawings bearing on the New World Discoveries and on the Development of the Territory that is now the United States. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.

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