Cathedral Rocks Yo-semite

James David Smillie

The 1861 photographs by Carleton E. Watkins and the 1862 paintings by Albert Bierstadt brought the magnificent landscapes of Yosemite to the attention of the populace on the eastern coast. In 1872, Picturesque America was published in two volumes by William Cullen Bryant and D. Appleton and Company of New York and people viewed these as a clarion call for travel and adventure. Awaiting their arrivals were granite peaks, lakes, mountain meadows, and spectacular waterfalls.

On 20 June 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill passed by Congress that set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The bill stated that the lands be held "...for public use, resort, and recreation...inalienable for all time." This marked the first time the U.S. government protected land for public enjoyment and it laid the foundation for the establishment of the national and state park systems. Yosemite National Park was designated by an Act of Congress on 1 October 1890, making it the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Sequoia. Yosemite National Park encompasses 747,956 acres in the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California. Approximately 95% percent of the park is federally designated wilderness. Yosemite National Park was declared a World Heritage Site on 31 October 1984.

Cathedral Rocks Yo-semite is an oil painting on canvas by James David Smillie from 1871. The view is of Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan looking west from Four-Mile Trail. In the early days of their careers the Smillie brothers, James and George, had difficulty supporting themselves strictly as artists and found it necessary to live with their parents until June of 1871, when a gift from an uncle allowed them to travel to Yosemite Valley. For four months James drew, painted, and wrote about the majestic splendor of Yosemite. In 1872, Picturesque America was published by D. Appleton and Company of New York, and James D. wrote the Yosemite section based on his journal entries, illustrating the article with engravings after his drawings and paintings.

James David Smillie was born in New York City on January 16, 1833, the eldest son of Katharine van Valkenburg and James S. Smillie. His father, a noted engraver, had a major influence on nineteenth-century American engraving and etching and is probably best known for his banknote engraving with Rawden, Wright, and Hatch, and for his engravings after Thomas Cole's painting series, Voyage of Life.

James D. studied at the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School and later at the University of New York. It has also been noted that he studied at the National Academy of Design in New York. Young James D. learned the art of engraving from his father and when he was eight years old produced his first etching on copper, a visiting card plate. In January 1846, he tried his first attempt at composition with a watercolor of the fall, a composition of Satan after Milton's poem, Paradise Lost. He was employed as a bank note engraver before he and his father started their own engraving business; they specialized in banknotes but also produced the engravings for the 1857 Mexican Boundary Survey Report.

Smillie headed the watercolor committee for the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876. Held in Philadelphia, it was the first official World's Fair held in the United States and was a celebration of America's hundredth anniversary of independence. Smillie was elevated to full Academician in the National Academy of Design in 1876. As early as 1870, he attempted to interest fellow etchers in forming an etching club in New York but had no luck. In 1877, he co-founded the New York Etching Club and the first meeting was held in his studio. In 1881, he was elected as one of the "original fellows" of the London Society of Painter-Etchers.