John Caspar Wild (or J.C. Wild) (1804 – August 12, 1846) was a Swiss-American painter and lithographer. He created early city views and landscapes of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Davenport, Iowa.
Wild specialized in hand-colored lithographs. These views, particularly the Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated, were some of the first depictions of the American West.
Early life Wild was born in Richterswil in the Canton of ZürichJohn Caspar Wild: Painter and Printmaker of 19th Century Urban America, John W. Reps. Page1 in Switzerland.
Career He moved to Paris, France. In 1832, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri.John Caspar Wild: Painter and Printmaker of 19th Century Urban America, John W. Reps. Page 95 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 tuberculosisGeschichte 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 said that he yearned to die in homeland in Switzerland, but it was a wish that was to not be fulfilled. Wild died on August 12, 1846.John Caspar Wild: Painter and Printmaker of 19th Century Urban America, John W. Reps. Page 105 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 of the Library Company of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Hospital, circa 1840, 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. Missouri Remembers: Artists in Missouri through 1951