A 19th-Century Artist Credited With Four Depictions of Emperor Norton — Each of Them Different
Cartoonists George Frederick Keller (of the San Francisco Wasp) and Edward Jump are well-known as artists who — during Emperor Norton's lifetime — often featured the Emperor in their works.
Much less well-known — indeed, not known at all by most — California pioneer artist and lithographer George Holbrook Baker (1827–1906) is credited with four depictions of Emperor Norton: (a) two in multiple-figure engravings published in 1864 and 1865 and (b) two unpublished sketches of the Emperor dated to c.1860.
The subject matter, dates, and attributions of the published works are not in question.
But, in this new analysis, we raise serious questions about the unpublished works, including: the characterization of the Emperor in these works, the dates, the artistic attributions, and — in one case — the subject matter itself.
If you've never heard of a white male anti-Catholic anti-immigrant secret society, the Patriotic Order Sons of America, that was established in Philadelphia in 1847 and briefly active in California in the 1870s and '80s, count this as one more reason to pull up a chair.
Includes images of very rarely seen works.
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