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George Mathis “CATHEDRAL OF THE BLESSE Rare Original Signed Lithograph - $160 (Folsom, CA)
Folsom-Auburn Rd near Folsom Lake Crossing
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George Mathis (January 26, 1909 - September 28, 1977) was an American artist. Born in Seattle, Washington, Mathis suffered from Paget's disease as a child which led to him spending much of his time indoors. During these years Mathis developed an interest in art and his early art education was self-taught. After graduating from high school Mathis attended Washington State University, where he studied landscape painting under William T. McDermott and majored in art. He graduated in June 1932, moved to California, and began working as a commercial artist and art teacher. Mathis married his wife Jean in 1936. He and his wife Jean moved to Nevada City, California, in 1948 after living in the Bay Area for a few years. Here Mathis developed his desire to use art to recreate western history. During this time Mathis also began doing lithography, which soon led to a very successful business. The couple moved to Coloma, California, around 1960, and remodeled a Victorian-style house dating from the Gold Rush era. They operated a studio and art gallery here and named their home 'Friday House', using Jean's maiden name. Mathis' passion for recreating the Gold Rush era earned him the nickname 'pictorial historian of the Mother Lode'. He added a new dimension to his career in the 1960s, when he began creating illustrations for the Aerojet Corporation, the Sacramento-based aerospace company, then America's largest producer of rocket engines.
Cathedral actual History:
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is considered one of three of the most historically significant buildings in Sacramento. Built at time when Sacramento was transitioning from a mining town into a capitol city, it took the kind of dedication and fortitude for which the early pioneers of California were known.
In an article from the Sacramento Daily Union, on the 24th of June 1889, it states, “The Bishop, aware of the decadence of the mining towns, gave a full representation of places, people and population. After two years his maps and letters induced the authorities in Rome to grant his petition, to cut off Sacramento from the Archdiocese (San Francisco) and make it the center and See of the new diocese of Sacramento. This has been his own individual work. The petition was not only granted with regard to the city of Sacramento, but the whole county, with Yolo, Calaveras. Amador. Mariposa, Tuolunmne, Mono, Placer and El Dorado counties, were added to the new diocese.
“On the reception of the decree from Rome, the Bishop secured the site of the Cathedral for $40,811, and at once commenced to set in motion the work of building the Cathedral. […] The Sovereign Pontiff has not only granted the Bishop the privilege of having this great territory named the Diocese of Sacramento, but also to have the new and imposing edifice dedicated to the most Blessed Sacrament.”