(CIVIL WAR CALIFORNIA) Townsend Louis R Original drawing of

Sale 2455 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 312

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(CIVIL WAR--CALIFORNIA.) Townsend, Louis R. Original drawing of the San Francisco funeral of General Edward D. Baker. Pencil and ink drawing, 5 1/2 x 6 inches, signed "L.R. Townsend," with his Autograph Letter Signed to the editors of Harper's Weekly on verso; pasted by one corner is a related newspaper description of the catafalque mounted over Townsend's signature; minor wear. San Francisco, 11 December [1861]

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Edward Dickinson Baker (1811-1861) left the United States Senate to lead the 1st California Infantry Regiment early in the war. He died in October 1861 at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, and his body was sent by steamer to San Francisco for burial. The artist Louis R. Townsend (circa 1835-1898) sketched his catafalque, the ornate decorated platform where his coffin sat for three days at the San Francisco Music Hall. Townsend took this opportunity to introduce himself to the editors of Harper's, writing on verso: "If it is used, remit the amount that you think it is worth. . . . I should like the appointment as artist for your ill. paper for this coast." Townsend eventually did have other drawings published in Harper's, and went on to a career as an architect in San Francisco.