In celebration of spring we are contemplating the blue skies, green hillsides, and flowing waters in this charming 1875 view of Davenport, a recent acquisition for the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center and a fresh addition to the library’s catalog.
Davenport, Iowa River Front, the Most Beautiful City on the Mississippi, 1875, printed in three colors by the National Lithographic Institute in Chicago, conveys well the exuberance of this quickly-developing center of commerce. Steamboats and other vessels glide on the river as a train speeds across the railroad bridge; loads of lumber on the shoreline are readied for building or shipping out; warehouses shelter trade goods; smoke spills from busy brick manufacturing plants; figures hustle through the streets on foot or by horse and carriage. Shops, public buildings, schools, churches, and residences populate the downtown and along the rise to the bluffs. A closer look:
John W. Reps, author of Cities of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century Images of Urban Development (also in our collection), helps place this artwork in context. The lithograph, he says, was of the “older panoramic townscape style” while “bird’s-eye” views were otherwise gaining favor. [1]
Representations of the city published before this one, complained the Davenport Democrat at the time, ”sacrificed all the beauties to the purpose of making a map rather than a picture…[b]luffs have been lowered, trees felled, houses magnified, and all harmony, truth and beauty ignored…” [2] In contrast, the newspaper writers felt this view was most faithful; it had no “trade advertising or forcing impossible localities into the picture,” no “huddled houses in it at random.” [3] No less than local worthies Charles H. Putnam, Edward Russell, George Parker, Hiram Price, T.W. McClelland, and the Richardson Brothers, among others, endorsed it as “…by far the best that has ever been offered to the public.” [4]
The person responsible for this superior portrait of Davenport was a man named Frank Ibberson Jervis. An immigrant from England, he had arrived in the city about 1864 via France and New York City. “Artist” is the occupation listed by Jervis’ name when it makes its first appearance in the city directories, in 1867.
Our knowledge of Jervis’ life as an artist in the first several year he resided here is limited, but the local papers reveal more activity once his view of Davenport was published. He was working on similar pictures of Rock Island and Iowa City in August of 1875; in September he was the first-prize winner in the “paintings and drawings” category at the Scott County Agricultural Society Fair for “miscellaneous” watercolors. [5] As a promotion for Hoyt’s music store, ladies were invited to pay a dollar each for a chance to win a large watercolor by Jervis. [6] What might the subjects of these artworks created here in Davenport have been? Where are they now?
In the fall of 1876, after twelve years in Davenport, Frank Jervis and his family moved to Chicago. Though residing in the Kensington neighborhood, he kept a studio downtown in the American Express Building on Monroe Street. From there he exhibited and sold his works, and offered art lessons. He was also an instructor for the women of the Chicago Society for Decorative Art, a member of the South Kensington Sketching Club, and involved with the Lydian Gallery. His artworks were displayed in numerous galleries and at exhibitions in the city. Thanks to art critics in the Chicago newspapers, we have the titles of some, including “A Trout Stream in Wisconsin,” “Israel in Egypt,” “Aisle of Westminster Abbey,” and “Entrance to the Cathedral at Brest.” [7] Jervis also hand-painted a flower design on the front of a dress for his daughter Helen’s bridal trousseau. [8]
Frank I. Jervis was much more than a respected visual artist, however. Stay tuned for Part II, when we explore his other considerable talents, as demonstrated here in Davenport in particular!
(posted by Katie)
Sources: [1] Reps, Cities, page 64. Davenport, Iowa River Front is discussed here along with the earlier views of the city, three of which were produced by the Augustus Hageboeck studio in Davenport, and copies of all of which are held by the Putnam Museum; [2] Davenport Democrat, July 14, 1875, page 1; [3] Democrat, August 31, 1875, page 1; [4] Democrat, July 19, 1875. That the statement in this article that this was a limited edition print is borne out by the fact that we can find no evidence of any other copy than the one held by the Putnam Museum. The RSSC Center’s catalog record is the first to be added to OCLC; [5] Democrat, September 10, 1875, page 1; [6] Democrat, April 19, 1876, page 1; [7] Four other titled works by Jervis are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; [8] Chicago Tribune, November 26, 1882, page 19.
