- 3
Attributed to Robert H. Vance
Description
- Attributed to Robert H. Vance
- Street Scene in Benicia, Solano County, California
- 1/4 plate daguerreotype
- Quarter-plate
Provenance
Exhibited
Washington, D. C., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, October 1998 - March 1999
Sacramento, Crocker Art Gallery, August - October 1999
Literature
The Encyclopedia of Collectibles: Photographs to Quilts (Alexandria, 1979), pp. 16-7
Drew Heath Johnson and Marcia Eymann, eds., Silver & Gold: Cased Images of the California Gold Rush (University of Iowa Press for the Oakland Museum of California, 1998), pl. 116
Catalogue Note
The present quarter-plate daguerreotype offers a fascinating view of lower First Street in Benicia, with several storefront signs clearly legible. The Gazette Printing Office pictured at far left was likely the home of the California Gazette, which was in existence from 1851 to 1852. Signs for neighboring sundry stores advertise C. E. Wetmore, purveyor of clothing and dry goods, and a certain Samuel C. Gray. The Gold Rush lured Gray from Baltimore to Benicia quite early, in 1849. By 1855, Gray was noted as an established merchant offering among other items clothing, crockery, hardware, and stoves, several of which appear to be on display on the store’s porch.