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John Caspar Wild (or J.C. Wild) (1804 – August 12, 1846) was a Swiss-American painter and 
Wild was born in
*''Pennsylvania Hospital'', circa 1840, The Library Company of Philadelphia
* Wild, J. C., and Lewis Foulk Thomas. 1948. The valley of the Mississippi: illustrated in a series of views, accompanied with historical descriptions. St. Louis, Mo: Joseph Garnier. (this is a reprint; original edition published 1841–2)
John Cushman Abbott Exhibit Supplement
includes a discussion of Wild and his book ''The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated in a Series of Views'', a slide show of illustrations from the book, and a downloadable pdf of the book. 1804 births 1846 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters American landscape painters American lithographers Swiss painters People from Richterswil Swiss emigrants to the United States People from Davenport, Iowa {{US-painter-1800s-stub
lithographer
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
. He created early city views and landscapes of Philadelphia; Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
; St. Louis, and Davenport. He specialized in hand-colored lithographs. These views, particularly the ''Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated'', were some of the first depictions of the American West.
Wild was born in Richterswil
Richterswil (Swiss German: ''Richtischwiil'' ) is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.
History
Richterswil is first mentioned in 1265 as ''Richtliswile''.
During the 17th Century, a series of peasan ...
, Canton Zürich,John Caspar Wild: Painter and Printmaker of 19th Century Urban America, John W. Reps. Page1 Switzerland. He moved to Paris, France. In 1832, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. In summer 1844, he moved a final time, to Davenport, Iowa, a small town in the upper Mississippi River valley. Wild fell gravely ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
Geschichte der Stadt Davenport, August P. Richter, Page 293 in the summer of 1846, and he was taken in by Davenport millinery businessman George L. Webb. On his deathbed, Wild reflected upon his childhood and he yearned to die in his Swiss homeland; it was a wish that was to not be fulfilled. Wild died on August 12, 1846. Wild was laid to rest nearly on the banks of the river, which he had painted for years. Wild's grave site was unmarked for decades.
Notable collections
*''University of Pennsylvania'', 1842, from collection ofThe Library Company of Philadelphia
The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a library, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of hist ...
*''Pennsylvania Hospital'', circa 1840, The Library Company of Philadelphia
Further reading
* Reps, John William, and J. C. Wild. 2006. John Caspar Wild: painter and printmaker of nineteenth-century urban America. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press. Designed by Steve Hartman of Creativille, Inc* Wild, J. C., and Lewis Foulk Thomas. 1948. The valley of the Mississippi: illustrated in a series of views, accompanied with historical descriptions. St. Louis, Mo: Joseph Garnier. (this is a reprint; original edition published 1841–2)
References
External links
John Cushman Abbott Exhibit Supplement
includes a discussion of Wild and his book ''The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated in a Series of Views'', a slide show of illustrations from the book, and a downloadable pdf of the book. 1804 births 1846 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters American landscape painters American lithographers Swiss painters People from Richterswil Swiss emigrants to the United States People from Davenport, Iowa {{US-painter-1800s-stub