Sign In

Password

- Or use -

Forgot Password Create Account

Checkout

This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.

Stock# 93383

Download Small Image

Map Maker

J. A. Sherriff

Title

(19th-Century San Diego Photograph) [Original photograph of Mexican Naval Officer Alejandro Cerisola, at San Diego]

Publication Place / Date

San Diego / 1877

Image Dimensions

3.75 x 5.5 inches

Color

Uncolored

Condition

Good

Stock# 93383

SOLD

Request Info

Sell Us a Map

Add to Wishlist

Email a Friend

Map Maker

Authenticity Guarantee

Map Maker

Fast, Global Shipping

Description

19th Century San Diego Cabinet Card Photograph

Mexican Naval Officer Visits Southern California in 1877

An oustanding early photograph portrait of a young Mexican naval officer, Alejandro Cerisola Enciso (1853-1926), made in the San Diego studio of J. A. Sherriff. The presentation inscription on the verso, written in Spanish, positively identifies the portrait's subject:

Ysmael, En prueba de cariño se dedica este tu compañero y amigo / Alejandro Cerisola / San Diego, Octre 27 de 1877

Alejandro Cerisola sports well-groomed whiskers as he stands arrow-straight in his meticulously tailored Mexican naval officer's uniform. He rests one arm on his saber, with the other arm on the armrest of a chaise longe or sofa.

A native of Mazatlán, Mexico, Cerisola served in the Mexican Navy for many years. By 1914 he reached the top echelon of Mexican military leaders, achieving the rank of Rear Admiral of the Armada Nacional, stationed variously in the Pacific coast city of Guaymas as well as in Veracruz, where he was in charge of the national arsenal at San Juan de Ulúa. Cerisola died in Veracruz in 1926.

At the time of the present photograph Cerisola was likely part of the Mexican naval presence on the Pacific coast, possibly in Baja California or Guaymas.

Rarity

Original photographs by J. A. Sherriff are rare in the market. In 1866 Sheriff was part of the partnership Sherriff's Brothers' Gallery in San Francisco. The present photograph suggests that Sherriff was operating in San Diego by 1877. Palmquist and Kailborn, usually exhaustive, overlooked Sherriff's San Diego-based work entirely, and only cite two examples of his photographs, one being a dated 1866 image at the California Historical Society.

Condition Description

Original albumen photograph, on card mount (cabinet card format). Signed in type on recto of mount: Sherriff, Photo. and on verso of mount: J. A. Sherriff, Landscape & Portrait Photographer, Corner Fifth and E. Streets, San Diego, Cal. Some minor staining on mat (mostly on verso). Photograph image age toned, but quite clean and nice.

Reference

Palmquist & Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: a Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865, page 492.