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Restoration Drawing: Wall Decoration Over Doorway, Facade of Mission-House Rendered by Geoffrey Holt (artist), c. 1937 watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paper overall: 35.7 x 24.5 cm (14 1/16 x 9 5/8 in.) Original IAD Object: Door approx: 6'3" x 3'3" Index of American Design 1943.8.5941 |
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Aided by the fertility of its lands, San Fernando Rey de España became one of the most prosperous missions in California. It is located between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. In 1819, the mission owned cattle and sheep numbering twelve thousand or more, along with five hundred horses and mules. The vineyards produced as much as two thousand gallons a year of both wine and brandy. The wall painting decorated the doorway of the mission house. The hunting scene illustrated the Indian practice of decoying deer: the animal on the right is actually a deer's pelt draped over the hunter, enabling him to come within shooting distance of the creature he is stalking. Painted in red on a white ground, the design represents the native Indian style and shows affinities with hunting-culture paintings elsewhere.
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