Lot 27
William B. Cook(American, born 1863)Lovers Point, Pacific Grove 33 3/4 x 56in
28 April 2015, 18:00 PDT
Los Angeles and San FranciscoSold for US$6,875 inc. premium
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William B. Cook (American, born 1863)
Lovers Point, Pacific Grove
signed and inscribed 'W.B. Cook Lovers Point Pacific Grove' (lower left)
oil on canvas
33 3/4 x 56in
unframed
signed and inscribed 'W.B. Cook Lovers Point Pacific Grove' (lower left)
oil on canvas
33 3/4 x 56in
unframed
Footnotes
By the mid-1800s, the city of Monterey was a bustling port of call. The "piney paradise" now called Pacific Grove, at the tip of the Monterey Peninsula, lay quiet and unpopulated until Point Pinos Lighthouse was built in 1855. In 1874 a road (Lighthouse Avenue) was constructed to reach it. Thus began the populating of Pacific Grove.
It was the following year, 1875, that the Pacific Grove Retreat Association was founded and a seaside resort and campground was established on land owned by local surveyor and businessman, David Jacks. During Pacific Grove's Chautauqua season, tents sprang up amidst the pines and followers would gather to learn. A bathhouse was built at Lovers Point for visitors to relax. It was during these earliest gatherings that people first took notice of the large numbers of monarch butterflies amidst the pines.
At the close of Chautauqua the tent covers would be folded up and stored for future use. In November 1879, after the summer campers returned home, Robert Louis Stevenson wandered into the deserted campgrounds and noted his experience in his book, The Old Pacific Capitol, "I have never been in any place so dreamlike. Indeed, it was not so much like a deserted town as like a scene upon the stage by daylight, and with no one on the boards."
Lovers Point still exists today. Although the structures in this painting have long been replaced, the location continues to thrive as the center of Pacific Grove, with shops, inns and a very popular park for outdoor activities.