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Portrait photographs of John Howard Hill.
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Collection Overview
Title:
Portrait photographs of John Howard HillCreator/Contributor:
Shew, William J., 1820-1903, creatorCreator/Contributor:
Koch, John, photographic overpainterAbstract:
Bust-length portraits believed to be of Sonoma County pioneer Dr. John Howard Hill. They were initially identified as William
McPherson Hill, son of John, however the date of the daguerreotype and age of the subject rule this out. The daguerreotype
is in a case and mat that date to the 1840s or 1850, and the sitter appears to be near 60 years of age. The painted photograph
is a solar enlargement, circa 1870, with significant overpainting and was formerly framed. The sitter in the enlargement is
almost certainly the same man pictured in the earlier daguerreotype, but he looks no older in the later portrait. Perhaps
the enlargement was made from an earlier portrait dating to the 1850s, or the artist took liberties and produced a more youthful
portrait. It is possible that the later portrait is of William McPherson Hill and the daguerreotype is of his father John,
but the resemblance is extremely strong.
Date:
ca. 1850-ca. 1870 (issued)Subject:
n-us-caPioneers -- California -- Sonoma County -- Portraits
Pionniers -- Californie -- Sonoma (Comté) -- Portraits
Families
Pioneers
California -- Sonoma County
Hill, John Howard -- Portraits
Hill, William McPherson -- 1822-1897 -- Family -- Portraits
Note:
Print signed near lower edge by photographer and overpainter: Wm. Shew Photo; J. Koch. Koch is known to have had a brief partnership
with Shew from 1868 to 1871 (cf. Palmquist, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West).
Photographer of daguerreotype unknown.
ORIGINALS: RESTRICTED DUE TO FRAGILITY. Requests for use of original must be approved by the appropriate curator..
Purchase; From Mark Baker Enterprises ; 20120412.
John Howard Hill was born in Morris County, New Jersey, was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and served
as a surgeon in the War of 1812. He arrived in California from Pennsylvania in 1854 and settled in Sonoma County. Hill was
elected to the California state senate in 1860. His son, William McPherson Hill, was a California pioneer of 1849 and an early
cultivator of zinfandel wine grapes in the Glen Ellen vicinity of Sonoma County.
Type:
graphicPortraits.
Daguerreotypes.
Albumen prints.
Physical Description:
photoprint
1 photograph : daguerreotype, quarter plate.
1 photographic print : albumen, with color overpainting ; 77 x 64 cm
Language:
English
Origin:
CaliforniaCopyright Note:
ORIGINALS: RESTRICTED DUE TO FRAGILITY. Requests for use of original must be approved by the appropriate curator..