Brought $550 Ft. Yale 1858 George Henry Burgess 4.7×5″ Mr. Brown pencil sketch
Lot 94 in our auction Saturday 7th September 2024
Provenance
Bought from Nat DesMarais Rare Books, Portland, Oregon, via AbeBooks, January 2, 2022
Previously sold at PBA Galleries, San Francisco, California, Sale 594: Fine Art, Works on Paper, Books and Prints, 25 August 2016
Research notes:
Pencil sketch by California artist George Henry Burgess (1831-1905).
The inscription reads:
Sketched by Geo H Burgess
Ft Yale. B.C
1858.
of Mr Brown
owner of log cabin
which I lived part
of my time at Ft Yale.
One of his paintings of Spuzzum in September 1858 was signed on the back the same as in this drawing, “Sketched by Geo H Burgess”.
Mr. Brown
Mr. Brown was most likely the following person:
“Mr. Brown, a respectable man, has applied for the appointment of Sexton for this district, he is well qualified for the Office.”
:
From a letter written by Richard Hicks to Governor James Douglas, Fort Yale, 28 October 1858.
Biography George Henry Burgess
Howay, Frederick W. The Early History of the Fraser River Mines. Victoria: Charles F. Banfield. 1926, p. 10.
“During the Fraser river excitement in 1858, he went up that river in a canoe and made some very valuable sketches, and while there painted a picture which was purchased by Governor Douglas.”
The Bay of San Francisco: The Metropolis of the Pacific Coast and its Suburban Cities. A History. Vol II. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. 1892. p. 184.
FRASER RIVER DELINEATED.―George Henry Burgess, a well known artist of this city says the San Francisco Bulletin, visited Fraser last year, during the height of the “fever,” and took numerous sketches of the country, depicting the most striking scenes in the adventurous miner’s life, etc. These sketches have been transferred to glass and will soon be exhibited in this State by means of the oxy hydrogen light, while a relative lecture will detail the experience of a Californian in British Columbia. The views we have seen are exceedingly beautiful and artistic.
The Daily National Democrat (Marysville, California), October 28, 1859, p. 3.
“His [Burgess’s] straightforward visual descriptions were sketched on the spot, usually in pencil or pen and ink on paper, sometimes with the addition of watercolor—media that artists favor for efficiency and convenience.” (p. 70)
“In 1858 George, again thirsting for gold, ventured into the wilderness of the Fraser River just north of what is now the Canadian border. Shortly thereafter he returned to San Francisco, established a studio specializing in portraiture, and began taking his place in the local art community.” (p. 119)
Driesbach, Janice T., Harvey L. Jones, and Katherine Church Holland. 1998. Art of the Gold Rush. University of California Press.
