Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo [Cabinet Card]
Name/Title
Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo [Cabinet Card]Description
Mary Jacobson cabinet card of the "ruins of Mission San Jose." At bottom of photograph: "[JACOBSON. / PHOTO.] 7. MISSION SAN JOSE. 2d MISSION. 2 E. HOUSTON STR / SAN ANTONIO." Imprint on back: "Picturesque / San Antonio. / PUBLISHED BY M. E. JACOBSON, / No. 2 East Houston Street, San Antonio, Texas. / [nine paragraphs describing San Antonio missions]"Context
From the back: "THE SECOND MISSION, SAN JOSE, is four miles below the city of San Antonio. It was commenced in 1718, and was several years in building. It was the most elegant and beautiful of all the Texas Missions. The celebrated artist, Huica, was sent from Spain and spent several years in carving the various ornamentations of the building. The front doorway is 35 feet high; the doors, solid live oak, covered with cedar, nicely carved, have gone to keep company with St. Ann and the heads of Sts Joaquin and Joseph. There were originally six life-style statues around this doorway. The first, on the south, St .Ann (gone); on the north, St. Joaquin (headless); above the door, the Virgin; above this a large window with ornamental surroundings of sacred emblems, flowers and foliage. Over this window a statue of St. Joseph; on his left St. Francis; on his right St. Domingo. St Joseph has also lost his head. The spiral stairs of live oak and cedar ladders are still the means of getting up in the tower. The old emblems are still used to teach Christianity in all of the missions. This mission, between the elements and the festive vandal, will soon be no more."Category
Texas in Focus: Early Photographs from the Lew Anvil Texas Collection