General View of the City of Toronto, U.C. [Upper Canada]
In 1834, shortly after the town of York was incorporated as the city of Toronto in the province of Upper Canada, architect Thomas Young made an overall view of the new city along the shore of Lake Ontario, in addition to three additional watercolors depicting the city's most important buildings. Young, who had emigrated from England to Canada in 1832, soon established himself in Toronto as an artist, teacher, architect, politician, civil engineer and surveyor. From 1834 to 1839, he taught drawing at Upper Canada College, and advertised for subscribers to purchase his print series of four views of Toronto. The lithographs based on Young's watercolors were among the earliest made by Nathaniel Currier in his New York City print shop, which issued its first lithographs in 1835, and would become the most prolific of American printmaking establishments in the nineteenth century. Currier's prints of early Canada immediately became popular and remained so for decades.
This is a rare early view of the east end of the town ofToronto, depicted in the distance across the water; on the horizon, ships approach and depart from Toronto's harbor. The artist also provided a glimpse of rural life and buildings on the outskirts of Toronto: Gooderham's windmill (a structure for a developing distillery business) is prominent in its waterfront location at the right; fishermen -- on shore and in a rowboat -- are nearby.
This is a rare early view of the east end of the town ofToronto, depicted in the distance across the water; on the horizon, ships approach and depart from Toronto's harbor. The artist also provided a glimpse of rural life and buildings on the outskirts of Toronto: Gooderham's windmill (a structure for a developing distillery business) is prominent in its waterfront location at the right; fishermen -- on shore and in a rowboat -- are nearby.
Artwork Details
- Title: General View of the City of Toronto, U.C. [Upper Canada]
- Artist and architect: after Thomas Young
- Artist: Drawn on stone by John H. Bufford (American, 1810–1870)
- Publisher: Printed and published by Nathaniel Currier (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1813–1888 New York)
- Date: 1835–36
- Medium: Hand-colored lithograph
- Dimensions: Image: 11 7/8 × 17 7/8 in. (30.2 × 45.4 cm)
Image with text: 12 13/16 × 17 7/8 in. (32.5 × 45.4 cm)
Sheet: 17 15/16 × 23 7/16 in. (45.6 × 59.6 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962
- Object Number: 63.550.299
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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