Pittsburgh in 1806 by Lois Mulkearn Originally published in the Spring 1948 issue of Pitt: A Quarterly of Fact and Thought at the University of Pittsburgh The painting, Pittsburgh in 1806, reminds one that Pittsburgh, steel capital of the world, has a natural setting which is a center of beauty and power alike. Written history of early Pittsburgh stresses her military and business advantages. When George Washington first viewed the site of Pittsburgh, he said that the land was extremely well situated for a fort because it had the absolute command of both rivers. From 1754, when the first English fort (Prince George) was begun at the Point to the present time, Pittsburghs history is a succession of developments in business and industry. Travelers accounts and other records of early Pittsburgh depict her a frontier town, buzzing with activity—traders and their Indian customers rushing about, bartering indoors, outdoors, over the counter and under the counter. As the frontier moved westward, newly established Pittsburgh shipyards built boats to carry the traders wares down the Ohio and into the Illinois country. The town became a depot for this western trade. In 1804, when George Beck, the artist, passed through on his way to Kentucky, even then, manufacturing was important. And besides, more than seventy wholesale and retail merchants had establishments in Pittsburgh. But the artist was more impressed by the beautiful, natural setting of this quiet hamlet situated between the high hills and the rivers that had cut their way through and around them. This painting shows the real beauty of Pittsburgh, a mushrooming frontier town and home of distinguished and busy families. Although this painting is known as Pittsburgh in 1806, evidences lead one to believe that the title should be Pittsburgh in 1804. A published account in The Portfolio (1813) reveals that in 1804 Beck made a tour of the western country enroute to Kentucky. James Lambdin as quoted by William Dunlap in his History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design... states that George Beck was the first painter who penetrated beyond the Alleghenies. An advertisement in the Pittsburgh Gazette, dated June 12, 1804, reads as follows: Two Artists from Philadelphia, the one a landscape, the other a miniature painter intending to tarry a few days in Pittsburgh, offer their services to the ladies and gentlemen in Pittsburgh who may please to honor them with their commands, Mr. Ferrees on the bank of the Monongahela. In the light of William Dunlaps statement and The Portfolio account one may believe that the Philadelphia landscape painter who advertised in the Pittsburgh Gazette may have been George Beck. Internal evidences in the painting also lead one to favor the date, 1804. Pittsburghs first big fire, July 25, 1805, destroyed some twenty buildings on Market Street; no such devastated area is shown in the painting. Imposing Trinity Church, built in 1805 at Wood and Liberty Streets, is not delineated on the canvas. This brick, octagonal edifice was a noted landmark in early Pittsburgh. In the beginning Beck was a draftsman in the employ of the British government, and the accurate delineation of the streets and the few buildings, descriptions of which are recorded, show that he was no less accurate with the brush than with the drafting instruments. True, there were at the time many buildings not shown nor even indicated in the painting, but the important ones are there in their approximate location. The three important streets of that time—Penn Avenue, Liberty Avenue, and Water Street—are located accurately on the canvas. Quarry Hill, Grants Hill, and Boyds Hill are located accurately, too. And one can clearly identify the buildings which are isolated and those in the foreground of the painting.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 17:33:08 +0000
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