Name/Title
View of Victoria, Vancouver Island, From Hospital Point, ca. 1863Entry/Object ID
2014.09.02Description
Print
Tinted engraving on paper (ca. 1863) by Mason Jackson (attrib.) from drawing by Edmund Morison Wimperis for The Illustrated London News (Jan. 18, 1863, page 45) after part two of four-part photograph “Panorama from Songhees Point 1861-62” (date may be 1860-61) by George Robinson Fardon.
This image is a view of the City of Victoria on Vancouver Island from Hospital Point
on the Songhees First Nations Village Reserve. The Royal Hospital was built on the Songhees in 1859 and was Victoria’s first permanent hospital, later briefly an asylum, hence the name Hospital Point.
Sailing ships and a paddle steamer are shown to the left, Christ's Church in the far background, the James Bay Bridge in the distance (centre left) with the city in the background with various buildings identified (in the lower margin) and the entrance to the harbour at the far right.
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Text that accompanied the engraving in The Illustrated London News, Jan. 18, 1863:
"Victoria is situated on ground which rises gently from the water for a few hundred yards, and then as gradually descends; a ravine traversing the site through its centre will be found a valuable assistance to perfect drainage. Over the hill, abreast of the prettily-placed residence of the Governor, lies the favorite walk or ride to Beacon-Hill, which may be termed the Hyde Park of the Victorians. It is a grass-covered mound, about 120 ft. in height; around its base are the race-courses and cricket-ground."Artwork Details
Medium
Tinted engraving on paperSubject Place
Region
Pacific NorthwestContinent
North AmericaContext
The image depicts Victoria's inner harbour with its long history, starting with its use by First Nations. Victoria was built on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen peoples, today known as the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations. The Songhees Indian Village Reserve, located across the harbour from the then Fort Victoria, had been part of their traditional lands and was where they moved in the mid-1840s. Fearing American annexation of the Columbia River region at the time, Fort Victoria was established in 1843 by the Hudson's Bay Company.
With the discovery of rich gold deposits in B.C.'s Fraser River and later the Cariboo region, news quickly spread and attracted hopeful prospectors from all walks of life and ethnic groups. Thousands of miners stopped to provision at Fort Victoria, providing economic opportunities for many. By 1860, the resident population of Victoria had doubled by 50% to about 600 with 25,000 temporary residents, and by 1862 Victoria had incorporated as a city, and was continuing to grow. A severe smallpox outbreak occurred the same year, with particular impact on the Lekwungen and other neighbouring First Nations, along with social disruption from the increased settlement. In 1866, the two colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were united. In 1868, Victoria was selected as the capital city of the new joint colony of B.C., and five years later in 1871, British Columbia joined Canada.
Today, Victoria serves as home to the provincial government and a wide variety of businesses and services. The harbour itself continues to provide an iconic focal point for the city, its tourism, commerce, and recreation. Acting as a seaport, seaplane airport and tourism destination it offers whale watching and ecotourism businesses, an International Ferry terminal with connections to the United States and a water taxi service. On any day harbour activity can include ferries, cruise ships, sea planes, commercial tugboats and barges, fishing vessels and more. And of note, in recent years the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations are again flourishing growing their own business entities and development capacity in many areas from marine industrial to culture to food services.
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Funded by Herbert Ingram, The Illustrated London News, began weekly publication in 1842 as a primarily conservative leaning paper and was the world’s first illustrated newspaper. Despite its name, The Illustrated London News contained an eclectic and rich collection of world news with features on science and discoveries (from natural science to technological advancements), art and culture, political events, and a special focus on the royal family. Almost every article included illustrations and later, photographs.Made/Created
Artist Information
Attribution
Mason Jackson (1819-1903)Role
EngraverArtist
Edmund Morison Wimperis (1835-1900)Role
ArtistArtist
George Robinson (G.R.) Fardon (1807-1886)Role
PhotographerDate made
circa 1861Time Period
19th CenturyNotes
ARTISTS' BIOGRAPHIES
Mason Jackson was a British wood-engraver, trained by his brother, John Jackson (1801–1848), who was the author of a history of this art. He worked as an engraver for the Illustrated London News 1850-1878, and as art editor from 1860. Jackson became the first historian of illustrated journalism in England in 1885, with his “The Pictorial Press: Its Origins and Progress” publication and he also exhibited landscape paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts, 1856-79. Amongst his apprentices was Edmund Wimperis.
Edmund Wimperis was a British wood-engraver and watercolourist. After his seven-year apprenticeship with Mason Jackson, he worked for the publisher James Cundall and the Illustrated London News. Wimperis then trained under the watercolourist Myles Birket Foster (1825-1899), becoming a professional landscape watercolourist and member of the Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, becoming its vice-president in 1895.
G.R. Fardon was an English photographer, active in the U.S. and Canada. Known as the master of cityscapes, his published “San Francisco Album”, is the earliest existing photographic record of an American city and one of the earliest of any city in the world. With the 1858 B.C. Fraser River and later Cariboo region discovery of gold and commercial opportunity, Fardon moved to Victoria, B.C., where he established a successful photography business. One of the first professional photographers in the then Colony of Vancouver Island, he did portraits of the city’s social and political elite and views of the Island. This work included a panorama of Victoria, displayed at the London International Exposition in 1862, later drawn and reproduced as an engraving and published in the Illustrated London News as noted.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionLocation
Printed lower margin from left to right:
CHRIST'S CHURCH
BRIDGE OVER JAMES BAY
RESIDENCE OF GOVERNOR DOUGLAS
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR - SEE PAGE 56 [or 58?]Dimensions
Dimension Description
SupportHeight
12.1 cmWidth
34.3 cm
