EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE (1830-1904) Panorama of San Francisco from California St. Hill. A folding multi-part panorama consisting of 11 albumen prints, nine panels measuring approximately 7 3/8x8 inches (18.7x20.3 cm.), and two 7 3/8x6 inches (18.7x15.2 cm.), overall 7 3/8x84 inches (18.7x213.4 cm.), on the original cloth-backed mount, the 6th panel with Muybridge's printed credit, the publisher's imprint, title, copyright, and date, on mount recto. Bound accordion style in gold-stamped cloth boards, with the gilt-lettered credit and title, worn and dampstained. San Francisco: Morse's Gallery, 1877
The photographs that constitute this panorama represent one of the most precise visual records of pre-earthquake San Francisco still in existence. Originally published by Morse's Gallery, these images also spawned Muybridge's interest in progressive motion and sequential imaging, laying the groundwork for the stop motion photographs that he produced later on in his career.
According to the publication Eadweard Muybridge: The Stanford Years 1872-1882, Muybridge set his camera on the roof of the residence that Mark Hopkins was building at the corner of California and Mason Streets, in January 1877, to map the city. The sweeping view, from a height of 381 feet and encompassing 50 miles in length and 15 miles in width, constituted the most complete pictorial record that had ever been made.
