J. C. WILD, WESTERN PAINTER AND
LITHOGRAPHER
by JOHN FRANCIS MCDERMOTT
Professor of English, Washington
University
On the 8th of April 1840 the St. Louis Missouri
Republican an-
nounced that "Mr. C. Wild, of this
city, proposes to publish in
the course of a few weeks, a set of
views of this city. . . . The
paintings from which the engravings
will be taken are ready for
examination at his painting office on
Locust Street between Main
and Second Streets, to which the
attention of the public is invited."
All those paintings have disappeared,
but the lithographs from
them mark the beginning of that notable
set of early western views,
The Valley of the Mississippi
Illustrated, now the rarest as well
as
the most pictorially important lot of
prints for the St. Louis area.1
Of the early life of John Caspar Wild
almost nothing is known.
A. H. Sanders, who knew the artist in
the last years of his life in
Davenport, Iowa, identified him as a
native of Zurich, Switzerland,
who as a young man had lived in Paris
for fifteen years before he
emigrated to the United States.2 His
known art-life in America
began in Philadelphia in 1831 when four
uncolored panoramic views
of that city, taken from the State
House looking north, south, east,
and west, drawn on stone by Wild, were
published by J. T. Bowen.3
By 1835 (or possibly two years earlier)
he was living in Cin-
cinnati. The Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio in that
city owns five water colors signed by
Wild and dated by them "about
1 For special courtesies and assistance
in assembling these facts about John Caspar
Wild I wish particularly to thank
Virginius C. Hall, director of the Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio
(Cincinnati); Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, curator of the
Smith College Museum of Art; the Old
Print Shop of New York; the late John H.
Bailey, director of the Davenport Public
Museum, and W. E. Whittlesey, secretary
of that museum (Davenport, Iowa); R. N.
Williams 2d, director of the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania; Massey Trotter
of the Print Room, New York Public Library;
Charles van Ravenswaay, director, and
Marjory Douglas, curator, of the Missouri
Historical Society (St. Louis); Margaret
Scriven, librarian, and Alfred F. Hopkins
and H. Maxson Holloway, former and
present curators of the Chicago Historical
Society; Clarence E. Miller, librarian
of the Mercantile Library (St. Louis); Lucile
Kane, curator of manuscripts, Minnesota
Historical Society; Boyden Sparkes of
New York; and Arthur C. Hoskins and Stratford Lee
Morton of St. Louis.
2 Add
H. Sanders wrote the sketch of Wild's life which appears in Franc B. Wilkie,
Davenport Past and Present (Davenport, 1858), 307-310.
3 The
Historical Society of Pennsylvania owns a set of these lithographs; they
measure eight and one-quarter inches by
twelve and one-half.
111
112
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
1835." These pictures,
approximately twenty-four by thirty-four
inches, are perhaps more interesting
historically than artistically.
They are street views which represent
the "Public Landing" (Fig.
1); "Fourth Street, West of
Vine"; the "Northeast Corner of
Walnut and Fourth Street";
"Third and Vine Streets--North Side";
"Fourth Street, East of
Vine." It is probable, though not proved, that
he did other views of the city and its
principal buildings and that
he lithographed these paintings as he
did his later work in Phila-
delphia and St. Louis. No lithographs
of Cincinnati subjects, how-
ever, seem to be extant.
One other view apparently belongs to
this period; of it there are
three (possibly four) versions.
Although not signed, they are almost
certainly by the same hand and have
every appearance of being the
work of Wild. One, owned by the
Historical and Philosophical
Society, is described as a water color
about twenty-six by thirty-four
inches (Fig. 2). The second is a
gouache painting about nineteen
by twenty-six inches offered for sale
in 1946 by the Old Print Shop
of New York City.4 Except
for difference in size these are identical
treatments of the subject. Lately,
Virginius C. Hall, director of the
Historical and Philosophical Society,
has turned up a photograph
(made in 1853 or later) of another
painting "almost identical"
with the water color already mentioned;
his records for this subject
carry the date 1833--the original of
this photo has not been
located. A fourth version (gouache, ten
by fifteen inches) is owned
by Richard S. Hawes of St. Louis; it
differs only in minor details
from the others. There has been some
dispute about the dating
of this subject, but judging from the
size of the town depicted,
it must have been done in the early
eighteen thirties. It will not
be unreasonable to assume that Wild was
in Cincinnati by 1833
and that one of these four pictures is
the earliest of his western
views.
Apparently Wild remained in Cincinnati
for several years, for
he was entered in the city directory
for 1836-37 as a landscape
painter with a studio at 133 Main
Street. But no sooner was he
listed as a regular citizen of the
place than he must have returned
to Philadelphia. In 1838 J. C. Wild and
J. B. Chevalier, Litho-
4 See plate in The Old Print Shop
Portfolio, V (January 1946), 120.
J. C. Wild 113
graphers of 72 Dock
Street, Philadelphia, published a book of
Views of
Philadelphia, and Its Vicinity. According
to the title page
this was "a
collection of Twenty Views, drawn on stone, by J. C.
Wild, from his own
sketches and Paintings. With Poetical Illus-
trations on each
Subject, by Andrew M'Makin. Patrons, beneath your
fostering smiles
alone, We ply the pencil, or impress the stone;
With anxious care,
our pleasing task pursue, and paint the City's
'Lions' to your
view." The book was issued in blue paper covers
at three dollars;
the lithographs, uncolored, were about five by
seven inches. The
twenty subjects were:
1. Fairmount, from
the Basin 11. State
House (Fig. 3)
2. United States Bank 12. Pennsylvania
Institution for
3. Merchants
Exchange the Instruction of
the Blind
4. View from the
Inclined Plane 13.
Pennsylvania Hospital
5. The Girard College 14. Market
Street
6. Eastern
Penitentiary 15.
University of Pennsylvania
7. U. S. Naval Asylum 16. U. S. Mint
8. Alms House 17.
Christ Church
9. Moyamensing Prison 18. Manayunk
10. Philadelphia,
from the Navy 19. St.
John's Church
Yard 20.
Laurel Hill Cemetery
Copies of this rare
publication are to be found in the Historical
Society of
Pennsylvania and the New York Public Library. The
latter owns also an
edition published by J. T. Bowen of Phila-
delphia in 1848, the
plates of which have been colored by hand.
During this second
period in Philadelphia Wild reissued (1838)
his panoramic views
of that city; although they are printed on a
slightly larger
sheet, apparently he used the stones prepared seven
years earlier, the
only difference being in the copyright line and the
addition of the Wild
and Chevalier office.
Once more Wild
turned to the West. He must have gone now to
St. Louis, for on
April 29, 1839, the Daily Evening Gazette re-
ported: "We
have before us a very neatly colored lithographic
drawing of St.
Louis, as seen from the opposite shore. The litho-
graphic work was
executed by Mr. Dupre's well known establish-
ment; where the
sketch was drawn and colored by Mr. J. C. Wild."
This print (Fig. 4),
approximately seventeen by twenty-six inches,
114 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
is the rarest as well as the most
attractive of all the Wild views of
St. Louis from the Illinois shore.5
The caption on the plate informs
us that the scene was "painted
from nature," but this original, like
most of Wild's paintings, has
disappeared.
During the next twelve months Wild
painted eight more local
scenes, which were on view as early as
April 8, 1840. Twenty days
later the Missouri Republican identified
the pictures as "A view of
St. Louis as you ascend and as you
descend the river;6 a view from
Chouteau's Pond, with the king of
fishermen in sight [Fig. 5];7 a
view of Water street from below the
Market House; a view of the
Episcopal Church; of the Second
Presbyterian Church; of the Catholic
Cathedral and of the New Court House
and Hotel." None of these
paintings can now be located. The
purpose in showing the pictures,
however, was not to sell them but to
arouse public interest in the
artist's plan to lithograph the views
for subscribers "with a full
description of each drawing for the
moderate sum of four dollars
for the eight drawings plain, or eight
dollars colored. . . . With
each drawing he has preserved
accurately the land marks around,
and in less than five years each will
be of double value as showing
something of what St. Louis was."8
The work of Wild, the Daily
Pennant declared, "should be hailed as a public benefit,
and assisted
by liberal patronage.--Even the excuse
of hard times should not
be considered available in such a
case."9
The date of publication of this set of
lithographs is uncertain.
They were surely ready in the fall of
the year, for on October 21,
1840, the Daily Evening Gazette reported
that Wild had been
"employed, for some time past, in
executing some drawings on
5 The only copy of record is that in the
Stokes Collection in the New York Public
Library. On July 8, 1839, the Missouri
Republican acknowledged receipt from
E. Dupre of a lithographed likeness of Bishop Rosati
(from a portrait by Gerke);
no lithographer's name was given-it is possible that
this was also the work of
Wild. Both were advertised for sale in
the Daily Evening Gazette for several months
beginning July 17.
6 That these two paintings were new and
different views of the city is made
clear by comparison of the litho of the
1839 view with those of the "North East"
and "South East" views of 1840.
7 The reproduction here is from the
lithograph, of course, not the painting. The
Missouri Historical Society has an oil by Henry Lewis,
painted in Dusseldorf about
1900, which is almost identical in
detail with Wild's litho. Apparently Lewis used
as a basis for his picture not his own
sketchbook but Wild's lithograph.
8 Missouri Republican, April 28, 1840.
9 April 8, 1840.
J. C. Wild 115
stone, from sketches, exhibiting views
in our city and neighborhood.
They are now completed. They comprise
eight views."10 Presumably
the venture was successful, for in the Missouri
Republican of Decem-
ber 10, 1840, we discover that Wild
announced a "second edition
of the Views of St. Louis, consisting
of the eight views already
lithographed, and four others, the
subjects of which will probably
be the U. S. Arsenal, Theatre, St.
Louis Hotel and St. Louis Uni-
versity." The price for the lot of
twelve plain was to be six dollars;
twelve dollars colored. From these
notices it seems clear that Wild
issued his first and second editions of
the Views of St. Louis as
books or portfolios with letterpress in
addition to the lithos. No
copies of such a publication, however,
have been recorded.11
Three months later the enterprise was
considerably expanded.
On March 13, 1841, the Missouri
Republican carried the announce-
ment that Wild, "favorably known
here as the publisher of 'Views
of St. Louis,'" had commenced
"the publication of a work en-
titled 'The Valley of the
Mississippi'" which was to include "all
the most picturesque scenes, Natural
curiosities, and also views
of the principal cities and towns in
the Great West; with historical
descriptions." It was to be issued
in monthly numbers, each con-
10 The Daily Pennant on April 20,
1840, reported: "We have seldom been more
gratified than we were on Saturday,
during a visit we paid to the establishment
of Mr. J. C. Wild, on Locust street. His
series of 'Views of St. Louis' consist of
eight elegant and extremely accurate
lithographic prints, beautifully colored,--repre-
senting among others, the new
Court-House, the Second Presbyterian Church, and
several beautiful landscape views in the
vicinity of the city. The cathedral is peculiarly
excellent, and strikes us as being one
of the best things of the kind which we have
ever seen." The Pennant man
must certainly have been in error in reporting the views
as lithographic prints. The Missouri
Republican in its stories of April 8 and 28
mentioned paintings only. The Daily
Evening Gazette of April 28 carried a similar
report: "We have seen some beautifully
colored drawings of scenes in St. Louis,
executed by Mr. J. C. Wild, which are so
very accurate and pleasing, that we cannot
forbear calling attention to them. They
are designed to show the plan of a set of
drawings to be done on stone by Mr.
Wild, provided sufficient encouragement be
given for that purpose." The Gazette
story of October 21 would seem to be final
proof that the paintings were shown in
April and the lithos available in October.
11 Prints of these first issues are
extremely rare. Of the first set of eight the
Missouri Historical Society has, in
color, all but the "South East View of St. Louis."
These prints have an overall size of
thirteen by seventeen and one-half inches, with
the picture measuring ten by fifteen and
one-quarter. Six are inscribed: "Published
and Lithographed by J. C. Wild at the
Missouri Republican Office." The "North
East View of St. Louis from the Illinois
Shore" bears the legend: "Painted from
Nature and drawn on Stone by J. C. Wild.
Published at the Republican Office."
Stratford Lee Morton of St. Louis has a
fine set of the first eight views in color. The
New-York Historical Society also has
several of these first large issues. No copies
have been located of the second lot of
four except as reproduced in the Valley
Illustrated.
116 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
taining four views, those of the first
number being the ones pre-
viously published but "reduced in
size to correspond with the work."
Lewis F. Thomas, described as "one
of the most lively and accom-
plished writers of the west," was
to do the letterpress to accompany
the pictures.12 Altogether,
"it will form an elegant work to transmit
to eastern friends to give those who
have never been west an idea
of Western science, western scenery,
&c." Wild apparently issued
a prospectus at this time, for the
editor of the St. Louis Western
Atlas on March 20 declared: "Mr. Wild must revise his
title page.
The orthography of certain words that
figure there is faulty, and
should be corrected."13
Nothing more concerning the new art
publication was printed
for several months. In the meantime the
Republican reported on
June 28 that Wild had made "a most
accurate and handsome litho-
graphic view of the s. b. Missouri the
King of Western boats, in
full run opposite Selma." In the
opinion of the writer "it would
when colored make a handsome parlor
ornament." From the time
of issue I am inclined to believe that
this print was made in the
size and style of the Views of St.
Louis. The view of Selma in the
Valley Illustrated (1842) was probably reduced from this earlier
litho; for the Missouri, however,
which was destroyed by fire in
August 1841, a small boat marked
"TWS" was substituted.14
On July 20 an advertisement in the Missouri
Republican indicated
the scope of business carried on by
"J. C. Wild Publisher of the
Valley of the Mississippi
Illustrated." He informed his
friends and
the public generally that he was
prepared "to execute Lithography,
in all its various branches, views of
Buildings, Cities, Scenery, and
Steamboats, &c. Also Maps,
Professional, Visiting and Invitation
Cards, Bills of Exchange, Labels,
Circulars, &c." His place of
business was now at the Missouri
Republican office on Main Street.
12 Lewis
Foulk Thomas, according to a card in the Daily Pennant on May 9, 1840,
was an attorney-at-law. Verse
contributions of his appeared in the Missouri Re-
publican and the New Era at various times between 1841
and 1846. His Inda, a
Legend of the Lakes; with Other Poems
(St. Louis, 1842), was reviewed at
length
by S.D.T. in the New Era on
August 24, 1842. In 1847 Thomas' Rhymes of the
Route, in Mexico was published in Washington, D.C.; his Cortez, the
Conqueror
(a five-act tragedy) was published in
the same city ten years later.
13 No copy of this prospectus has
been found. Examination of extant cover titles
and title pages suggests that Wild took
the hint.
14 Arthur C. Hoskins of St. Louis
owns an interesting variant of this Selma print.
It is about fifteen by twenty-six
inches, colored. Superimposed in the foreground is a
view of the steamboat Alec Scott, drawn
by Captain H. S. Blood.
J. C. Wild 117
Perhaps it was the pressure of such
business that had delayed
progress on the book. The first number
of the Valley Illustrated
was ready by July 15, 1841.15 The buff
cover page bears the in-
formative title: THE VALLEY OF THE
MISSISSIPPI ILLUS-
TRATED in a SERIES OF VIEWS
embracing pictures of the Prin-
cipal Cities and Towns, Public
Buildings remarkable and picturesque
Scenery, on the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers. Drawn and Litho-
graphed by J. C. Wild, Literary
Department by Lewis F. Thomas.
(No scenes on the Ohio were published
in any of the nine parts.)
It is decorated with a picture of
marching soldiers about to be
ambushed by an Indian warrior, while,
to the right, settlers are
seen building a cabin; in the center
distance is a view of the
Mississippi.
In addition to this cover Wild supplied
a decorative title page
which shows a party of settlers
gathered around a campfire at
night, with wagons, animals, and a
lurking Indian in the back-
ground (Fig. 6). Although the late
William Clark Breckenridge
thought these two scenes might be the
work of Charles Deas, it
is almost certain that this artist
during the summer of 1841 was in
the neighborhood of Fort Snelling; we
cannot definitely locate him
in St. Louis before November, whereas
these plates must have been
done in June or July at the latest.16
Furthermore, the title page
lithograph bears the typical Wild
signature. For plates in the first
number Wild redrew on stone the
"South East View of St. Louis"
(now labeled "View of St. Louis
from the Illinois Shore"),17 the
15 On that day the Daily Evening
Gazette announced: "We have now on our
table the first number. . . . [It]
contains a view and sketch of the city of St. Louis--
of the Cathedral--of the Court House and
of the Theatre."
16 John Francis McDermott, "Charles Deas, Painter of
the Frontier," Art Quarterly,
XIII (1950), 293-311.
17 Three more variants have been located of the views from the Illinois
shore.
Facing page 1 of De Smet's Voyages
aux Montagnes Rocheux et un annee de sejour
chez les tribus indiens du vaste
territoire de l'Oregon (Malines,
1844) appeared
Wild's "View of St. Louis"
from the Valley Illustrated, reduced to little more than
three inches by five, colored, and
published without credit to the artist. The second
variant issue is a "South East View
of St. Louis From the Illinois Shore Published
by George Wooll No. 71 Market Street St.
Louis, Missouri Copyright secured."
This colored litho is also Wild's-the
only possible explanation of the legend is
that Wooll came into possession of
Wild's stone after the death of the artist in 1846.
The Missouri Historical Society has a
copy on which someone many years ago
wrote the date 1836! This print is nine
and one-quarter by fourteen inches. The
third variant is a "North East View
of St. Louis" issued by Wooll without credit
to Wild; Knox College owns one of these
prints (ten by fifteen and one-quarter
inches).
118 Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Cathedral,18 the Court House
(all from the first lot of Views),
and the St. Louis Theatre (from the
second group). The plates
(actual size of picture) in this and
succeeding issues vary from
four and one-quarter to four and
three-quarters inches in height
and from seven and one-quarter to eight and three-quarters in
width; the four panoramic plates in the
eighth and ninth parts
from
about eight and one-eighth to eight and three-quarters in
height and from sixteen and one-half to
eighteen inches in width.
The second number appeared late in
August. The Missouri Re-
publican on the 25th reported its issue without describing its
con-
tents but added, "It is no small
compliment to the Editor and
Artist, that a large number of copies
have been ordered expressly
for the purpose of sending them to
Europe." The five pictures
presented included St. Louis University
(from the second set of
Views of St. Louis), the old Chouteau mansion,19 the interior of
the Church of St. Francis Xavier, a
view of St. Charles, Missouri,
and a view of Carondelet.
The same newspaper on October 6
announced the September (or
third) number of the book, the
appearance of which had "been
delayed by the indisposition of the
Editor."20 This "valuable and
interesting number" contained
views of "Alton, of Monk's Mound,
in St. Clair county, of Jefferson
Barracks, of St. Louis Medical
College [Fig. 7], and of the
Engine House of the St. Louis Fire
Company." The fifth print was an
extra or supplement.21
18 The view of the Cathedral exists also as a steel engraving (four and
one-half
inches by seven and three-eighths) by J.
T. Hammond, published in the first volume
of the Catholic Cabinet (St.
Louis, 1843). It was reproduced in 1843 or 1844 on
a letterhead. See note 25 below.
19 "This is the most ancient
mansion in our City. ... It is a grand old edifice-
and infinitely better fitted for the
heats of our summer climate, than the great majority
of our more modern dwellings. ... It has
been the scene of many grave and gay
assemblies. In it was for many years
transacted much of the business of a house
whose affairs embraced a multitude of
operations, extending over a wide and wild
expanse of country, involving heavy
outlays and realizing rich returns. ... As the
building is doomed to fall, it is some
consolation to know that, in Mr. Wild's
lithography, its appearance has been
very accurately preserved." Western Atlas,
August 28, 1841.
20 "Appeared
yesterday," said the Pennant on October 5, 1841.
21 G. G. Foster, editor of the St. Louis
Daily Pennant, at this time proposed to
issue a periodical called the Prairie
Flower. On October 13 the Pennant announced
that "the lithographed prospectus
for this work is now out, and our friends are in-
vited to call at Dinnies & Radford's
to examine it. It is a beautiful thing and does
great credit to Mr. Wild the
artist." No copy of this prospectus has been located;
nor has any copy of the Prairie
Flower been found.
J. C. Wild 119
The October (fourth) part was reported
in the Missouri Re-
publican of November 10 as including "a view of Kaskaskia,
Illinois;
a view of the ruins of Fort Chartres,
Ill.; a view of the U. S.
Arsenal, below St. Louis, and a view of
the Falling Spring, near
Cahokia." A plan accompanied the
picture of the fort. The "Arsenal"
had previously been issued in the
second set of Views of St. Louis.
On the 11th of December we read in the
same paper that two
numbers were about to be published, but
not until Christmas Day
was the long postponed November issue
mentioned again and then
only because the Missouri Republican
was printing that day Lewis F.
Thomas' account of the Piasau legend.
Some explanation of the
delay we find in the announcement in
the Republican on January 10,
1842, that twenty-year-old Sarah Ann
Humphreys Wild, daughter
of William Humphreys and wife of the
artist, had died two days
before.
At last the November and December
numbers, "delayed by the
indisposition of the publisher, Mr.
Wild," were in the hands of
the subscribers, the Republican reported
on February 2, 1842. The
first contained views of the Piasau
Rock near Alton, of the mouth
of the Missouri River, of St. Charles
College, and of a prairie on
fire. The second was comprised of views
of Cairo City (Fig. 8), of
Selma, of Grand Tower and the Devil's
Bake Oven, and of Barbeau's
Creek at Prairie du Rocher, Illinois.
The seventh number was not reviewed by
the press. Officially
the January issue, it probably did not
appear until late March or
possibly April.22 The scenes
represented were the Second Presby-
terian Church (from the first set of Views
of St. Louis), Cahokia,
Illinois (winter scene), the St. Louis
Hospital, and a view at Illinois
Town (now East St. Louis) with St.
Louis in the distance.
The eighth and ninth parts (for
February and March) were
actually issued in May, according to
the New Era of May 31. In
each number were two panoramic views of
St. Louis, north, south,
east, and west, taken from the
observatory of the Planters House.
Besides the regular book issue, the Missouri
Republican of June 2
tells us, Wild made "a number of
these views" to sell singly.
22 A letter from a
"Subscriber" in the Missouri Republican for March 23, 1842,
described this number as then "in
preparation."
120 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
With these numbers the Valley
Illustrated ceased. According to
the cover page Wild had planned a
volume of two hundred pages
of letterpress and fifty views to be
published in monthly parts (at
one dollar each) over a year's time.
However, nine parts only were
issued, with thirty-four plates (to
which are added the cover and
title page scenes). Difficulties of
some sort developed with Lewis
F. Thomas: the last three numbers were
edited by J. E. Thomas,
his brother.23 Wild
continued to live in St. Louis for at least two
years; why he ceased publication of
this interesting series remains
unknown.24
Attention should be called to several
features of the Valley Illus-
trated plates. In the handling of his subjects the artist
allowed him-
self some liberty. The Court House, for
example, in 1840 looked
like Wild's view only in the
architect's drawings, for when finished
many years later the building did not
conform to all the details of
the picture; and the Theatre, which had
been opened in 1837, never
was adorned with the portico which its
builders had planned and
sketched. It should be noted, too, that
when the plates of the
Valley were redone from the Views of St. Louis they
were not
merely cut down in size, but altered in
detail. The "View of St.
Louis from the Illinois Shore" is
not exactly the same as the "South
East View of St. Louis." The
larger issue of the Second Presby-
terian Church is a far more pleasing
picture because the full block
to the right of the church is in view,
whereas in the Valley the plate
is cut off after the residence
immediately beyond the church.
Although Wild had originally declared
that he intended to
23 In
a letter to the Daily Evening Gazette (April 18, 1842) J. E. Thomas men-
tioned that he had "had charge of
the 'Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated,' &c.,
as editor dating from the 7th number
inclusive." On June 4 an announcement in the
St. Louis New Era declared that
L. F. Thomas had "not been Editor of the Valley
of the Mississippi Illustrated for the
last three months." It was probably at some time
before this break that Wild made the
lithograph from the Deas portrait of Thomas
used as frontispiece to the latter's Inda.
See note 12 above.
24 A
collation of the Valley Illustrated by William Clark Breckenridge can be
found
in James Malcolm Breckenridge, William
Clark Breckenridge, His Life, Lineage and
Writings (St. Louis, 1932), 263-274. Copies of the Wild-Thomas
volume are scarce
and imperfect. Except for some missing
title pages (which may possibly have never
been printed) that owned by the Chicago
Historical Society seems to be perfect; tha??
in the Clements Library is likewise
almost perfect. The New-York Historical Society
the Mercantile Library of St. Louis, the
Missouri Historical Society, all have partia??
copies. Stratford Lee Morton has another
complete copy (except for the missing title
pages mentioned). In 1948 Joseph Garnier
published in St. Louis a facsimile edition
of the original work.
J. C. Wild 121
reissue all the Views of St. Louis in
the Valley Illustrated, the
Chouteau Pond, Water Street (the
Levee), and the Episcopal Church
of the first lot were not included in
the later publication, nor was
the St. Louis Hotel of the second batch
of Views. Another print
which was not listed among the twelve Views
and did not appear
in the Valley Illustrated--possibly his
most pleasing street scene-
is a view (owned by the Missouri
Historical Society) of the First
Presbyterian Church (Fig. 9). A colored
print in the size of the
Views, it is inscribed "Published by J. C. Wild No 9,
Second Srt
[sic] St. Louis Mo. Drawn and Lithographed by J. C.
Wild."
From the address we may assume that it
was not done in the first
two or three years of his residence in
St. Louis; for the directory
of 1842 listed the artist at 45 N.
First, whereas that of 1845 placed
him on the "east side of Second
South of Chestnut," that is, in the
first block of North Second Street.
There is extant a fifth general view of
St. Louis by Wild, which
may be his last picture of the city.
Taken from midriver, it presents
a close-up of the waterfront; the
Mississippi, however, is made to
look like a placid lake or bay.
Engraved by J. T. Hammond of St.
Louis, it was published (a plate four
and one-half by seven and
three-quarters inches) in the
Cincinnati Ladies Repository for January
1845, as an "entirely new"
engraving. This print, however, was
extant as a letterhead early in 1844,
for Henry B. Whipple picked
up a copy when he visited the city in
the first week in April.25 So
far as can be determined Wild made no
lithograph of this picture.
25 Lester B. Shippee, ed., Bishop
Whipple's Southern Diary, 1843-1844 (Minne-
apolis, 1937), 132-137. In the original
manuscript diary a number of prints were
pasted by way of illustration; of three
reproduced by Shippee, two (unidentified)
are St. Louis pictures by Wild. One is the Hammond
engraving of the Cathedral
(note 18 above); the other is the Ladies
Repository view. Whipple's copies were
on letterheads acquired in St. Louis;
they measure four and one-half by seven and
one-half inches, and four and one-half
by seven and three-quarters.
An additional element of confusion in
the record of Wild's views of the city is
suggested by the report of exhibits at
the Mechanics Fair in November 1841; there
the artist showed "a lithographed
view of St. Louis, colored" and "a new view
of St. Louis, taken opposite the
Southern or lower part of the city." Missouri Re-
publican, November 27, 1841. The first mentioned could be the
1839 view, the
"North East" or the
"South East" of the original series issued in October 1840, or
the litho in the Valley Illustrated (July
1841). The second, however, if the reporter
was accurate in describing it as a new
view, could be none of these. Could it have
been either the painting from which the Ladies
Repository view was engraved or the
engraving itself? Or was it possibly
still another picture of the city? No lithograph
of this Ladies Repository view
has ever been recorded; it forms a curious exception
in his career.
122 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
How many paintings Wild produced in St.
Louis besides the
first nine no one knows. It is quite
probable that he did water colors
of all his subjects. The only example
that has been located, how-
ever, is a water color view of
Carondelet (twenty-two by thirty-
five inches), owned by the Mercantile
Library of St. Louis; it is
signed and dated 1841.
Five years Wild had spent in St.
Louis.26 In the Valley Illustrated
he had presented many views of the
Mississippi from the Ohio to
the Missouri. He began to think it was
time he pictured the towns
of the Upper Mississippi. In June 1844
he went up to Davenport to
take "a view of that place with
its surrounding scenery." Now, on
July 25, the Daily Evening Gazette announced
that "the sketch has
been completed, and may be seen at the
bookstore of Mr. Keith."
The result of this trip was probably
the painting of that city
now in the Davenport Public Museum,
signed and dated 1844 (Fig.
10). It was probably of this picture
that a St. Louis newspaper
correspondent, sightseeing in Davenport
in July 1845, wrote: "The
bluffs below the town afford the proper
point of view, and the
artist, Wilde, formerly of St. Louis,
has in a really fine drawing,
given a lively idea of it."27
In September 1844 Wild extended his
sphere of activities con-
siderably by venturing to Fort
Snelling. According to a letter of
introduction he carried from Benjamin
Clapp of Pierre Chouteau
Jr. and Company of St. Louis to H. H.
Sibley at Mendota, he was
setting out on this trip "to
improve his health .. . and to make some
sketches of scenery &c in [the]
romantic country of St. Peters."28
A. H. Sanders later declared that he
had traveled with Wild in
1846, but either he was in error or
Wild made another trip in that
year. On this excursion, Sanders
reported, Wild "made a number
of small sketches, but they were never
reproduced on canvass."29
We do not know what those sketches
were, but Sanders was again
in error, for at his death two years
later Wild left water colors of
26 Early
in 1844 Wild did a litho view of Col. Brant's Tobacco Warehouse and
a litho of the Rev. Dr. Potts of the
Second Presbyterian Church from a portrait by
William C. Cooper. Daily Evening
Gazette, February 24, 29, 1844.
27 Weekly
Reveille, August 11, 1845; John
Francis McDermott, "An Uppe
Mississippi Excursion," Minnesota
History, XXII (1941), 22.
28 Sibley Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.
29 Wilkie, Davenport Past and Present, 308.
J. C. Wild 123
the Falls of St. Anthony and of Fort
Snelling (Fig. 11). The first
is lost; the last, a gouache and
pastel, nineteen and one-quarter
inches by twenty-nine and
seven-eighths, has for the last fifty years
been in the family of Boyden Sparkes of
New York and has just
been acquired by the Minnesota
Historical Society.30
Although errors crept into his account
of Wild, Sanders remains
our principal source for the last years
of the artist's life and has
given us our only picture of him. He
wrote that Wild at that time
was "a tall spare man of about
forty years, with long raven black
hair, whiskers and moustache, and
restless brown eyes. He had, at
times, a worn and haggard look, the
result, doubtless, of ill-health,
and a life-long battle with the world
for the bare means of sub-
sistence." He was a man who had
"neither humor of his own, nor
an appreciation of humor in others. He
looked tragedy, thought
tragedy, and his conversation outside
of business and art, was never
much more cheerful than
tragedy."31
In 1845 (?) Wild painted a view of
Davenport and Rock Island
and made colored lithographs of it.
Sanders said that he commenced
another painting of Davenport which was
never finished. In this
same year he made paintings (and
subsequently lithographs) of
Dubuque, Galena,32 Muscatine,
and Moline. The next year he
painted a picture of the ferry at
Davenport; it is now in the
collection of Henry McCullough of that
city. Sanders described it
at length as
a fancy sketch which was the nearest
approach to an artistical smile of
which Mr. Wild was ever known to be
guilty. . . . This little oil sketch
represented three notable characters of
the village, each of whom, at that
time, was personally known to almost
every man, woman, and child in the
place. They were collected at the
well-remembered ferry-house, and near the
equally well-remembered old bell-post.
The bell there suspended was then
30 Mr. Sparkes writes that this picture was given to his
mother about 1900 by
the ninety-year-old widow of an army
officer in Cincinnati. It is possible that an
officer at Fort Armstrong may have
bought it after Wild's death. But there is no
proof that the painting reproduced here
is that mentioned in the records of Wild's
estate; it is quite possible that
Sparkes's picture was painted in 1844 for a Fort
Snelling officer and that the picture in
the Wild estate was another view of the fort.
31 Wilkie, Davenport Past and
Present, 308-309.
32 The "Undentified
City" which was reproduced as Plate 89 in I. N. Phelps Stokes
and Daniel C. Haskell, American
Historical Prints (New York, 1933) is Wild's
??ithograph of Galena. It measures
twenty and one-quarter by thirty and one-quarter
inches.
124 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
furiously jingled, and often with
disagreeable pertinacity, by those who
wished to call the old ferryman, Mr.
John Wilson, from the opposite side.
The ringer was generally considered
under personal obligation to stand
to his post some time, in company
with his horse and vehicle, if he had any
to cross over, so that the ferryman
might with proper deliberation determine
whether the skiff or horse-ferry-boat
were required by the nature of the
cargo. The large person of Mr. LeClaire
sits in a buggy, to which is attached
the notable old white horse that used to
drag his master about the place.
Close by stands Mr. Gilbert McKown,
whose store was on Front street,
a few steps distant, but whose burly
figure and good-humored face, seen
on any street, seemed a part and parcel
of the town, and directly identified
with its corporate existence. The third
figure is Sam Fisher, as he was
familiarly called by every acquaintance.
. . . Sam Fisher was the best
fisher in the town, a good story-teller,
and had a most marvelous memory
of past times and incidents, of facts
and dates, which united to some peculiar
eccentricities of character, exclusively
and honestly his own, made him a
conspicuous character. One of his
smaller eccentricities is shown in the
picture. He is standing with his pants
drawn up to the top of one boot,
and down to the sole of the other-using
a favorite gesture, and evidently
doing the talking, of course.33
Wild died at Davenport in August 1846.
His will, dated the 2d
of that month, indicated his intention
to settle there, for he was
engaged to Mary Jane Wild (a cousin?),
to whom he left his
watch and chain, his breast pin, and
his horse. The lot which he
had bought in town he left to his
brother Conrad along with his
three presses, two of which were still
in St. Louis. Another member
of his family apparently was George
Wild, to whom he willed his
hunting gun. These three, all residents
of Davenport, obviously
constituted his close relatives.
The achievements of the last year or
two of his life are best shown
by the exciting list of paintings and
lithographs to be found in the
probate file on the settlement of his
estate. The inventory sub
mitted on October 30, 1846, and related
papers listed oil painting
of Galena, Dubuque, Davenport, Moline,
Fort Armstrong, and
Bloomington, and water colors of
Davenport, Fort Snelling, th
Falls of St. Anthony, and a prairie on
fire (the latter may have
been the subject lithographed for the Valley
of the Mississippi)
For these the appraisers thought ten
dollars each a reasonable value
33 Wilkie, Davenport Past and
Present, 308-309.
J. C. Wild 125
Poor Wild's lithographs apparently had
not sold too rapidly.
Still in his possession at the time of
his death were ten plain lithos
of St. Louis, eighty plain of Galena
and Dubuque (that is, separate
views of the two towns), nine colored
of Galena, thirty-two colored
of Dubuque (Fig. 12),34
twenty-eight plain and eight colored of
Moline, and forty-five plain and two
colored of Bloomington. These
were appraised at one dollar plain and
two dollars colored; in the
several records of sales they generally
brought fifty cents or a dollar
more. In addition there were several
"lots" of lithographs and
apparently ten "Miss.
Valleys." No record of purchasers was made,
however, and one can only wonder today
what became of this
great lot. Few indeed of either lithos
or original paintings can now
be located.
34 Copies
of this colored lithograph hang in the Davenport Public Museum and
the Chicago Historical Society; that in the latter
measures twenty and one-eighth
inches by thirty and one-sixteenth.
J. C. WILD, WESTERN PAINTER AND
LITHOGRAPHER
by JOHN FRANCIS MCDERMOTT
Professor of English, Washington
University
On the 8th of April 1840 the St. Louis Missouri
Republican an-
nounced that "Mr. C. Wild, of this
city, proposes to publish in
the course of a few weeks, a set of
views of this city. . . . The
paintings from which the engravings
will be taken are ready for
examination at his painting office on
Locust Street between Main
and Second Streets, to which the
attention of the public is invited."
All those paintings have disappeared,
but the lithographs from
them mark the beginning of that notable
set of early western views,
The Valley of the Mississippi
Illustrated, now the rarest as well
as
the most pictorially important lot of
prints for the St. Louis area.1
Of the early life of John Caspar Wild
almost nothing is known.
A. H. Sanders, who knew the artist in
the last years of his life in
Davenport, Iowa, identified him as a
native of Zurich, Switzerland,
who as a young man had lived in Paris
for fifteen years before he
emigrated to the United States.2 His
known art-life in America
began in Philadelphia in 1831 when four
uncolored panoramic views
of that city, taken from the State
House looking north, south, east,
and west, drawn on stone by Wild, were
published by J. T. Bowen.3
By 1835 (or possibly two years earlier)
he was living in Cin-
cinnati. The Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio in that
city owns five water colors signed by
Wild and dated by them "about
1 For special courtesies and assistance
in assembling these facts about John Caspar
Wild I wish particularly to thank
Virginius C. Hall, director of the Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio
(Cincinnati); Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, curator of the
Smith College Museum of Art; the Old
Print Shop of New York; the late John H.
Bailey, director of the Davenport Public
Museum, and W. E. Whittlesey, secretary
of that museum (Davenport, Iowa); R. N.
Williams 2d, director of the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania; Massey Trotter
of the Print Room, New York Public Library;
Charles van Ravenswaay, director, and
Marjory Douglas, curator, of the Missouri
Historical Society (St. Louis); Margaret
Scriven, librarian, and Alfred F. Hopkins
and H. Maxson Holloway, former and
present curators of the Chicago Historical
Society; Clarence E. Miller, librarian
of the Mercantile Library (St. Louis); Lucile
Kane, curator of manuscripts, Minnesota
Historical Society; Boyden Sparkes of
New York; and Arthur C. Hoskins and Stratford Lee
Morton of St. Louis.
2 Add
H. Sanders wrote the sketch of Wild's life which appears in Franc B. Wilkie,
Davenport Past and Present (Davenport, 1858), 307-310.
3 The
Historical Society of Pennsylvania owns a set of these lithographs; they
measure eight and one-quarter inches by
twelve and one-half.
111