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 View of the Presidio of San Francisco (1816) |
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San Francisco One Hundred Years Ago
Translated From the French of Louis Choris By Porter Garnett With Illustrations from Drawings made by Choris in the year 1816, to which are added Certain Views of San Francisco at the present day San Francisco A. M. Robertson 1913 Copyright, 1913 By Porter Garnett Printed By Taylor, Nash & Taylor San Francisco |
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| Translator's Note The description of San Francisco here presented for the first time in an English translation constitutes one chapter of a work entitled Voyage pittoresque autour du monde, avec des portraits de sauvages d'amerique, d'asie, d'afrique, et des isles du grand ocean; des paysages, des vues maritimes, et plusieurs objets d'histoire naturelle, par Louis Choris, peintre. Paris, 1822. The author, who was a Russian of German stock, was born at Yekaterinoslaf on March 22, 1795. He visited San Francisco in 1816 on board the Ruric, being attached in the capacity of artist to the Romanzoff expedition under the command of Lieutenant Otto von Kotzebue, sent out for the purpose of exploring a northwest passage. Dr. Eschscholtz, from whose name that of the California poppy (Eschscholt zia Californica) was taken, was the physician of this expedition. It has been said of Choris that he "painted nature as he found it. The essence of his art is truth; a fresh, vigourous view of life, and an originality in portrayal." The accompanying illustrations may therefore be looked upon as faithfully representing the subjects treated by the artist. After the voyage of the Ruric, Choris went to Paris where he issued a portfolio of his drawings in lithographic reproduction and studied in the ateliers of Gerard and Regnault. Seized, however, by an irresistible craving for adventure, he left France in 1827 for South America. He was assassinated by robbers on March 22, 1828, when en route to Vera Cruz. |
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 Type of Boat Used in the Bay of San Francisco (1816) |
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 The "Gjöa" (now in Golden Gate Park), on which in 1906 Roald Amundsen completed the first voyage through the northwest passage, which was sought by the Romanzoff Expedition in 1816. |
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