Charles Christian Nahl


Carl Christian Heinrich Nahl, later known as Charles Nahl, and sometimes Karl Nahl, Charles Christian Nahl or Charles C. Nahl, was a German-born painter who is called California's first significant artist.

Early years

He was the son of Georg Valentin Friedrich Nahl and Henriette Nahl. His parents divorced in 1826. He came from a long line of artists and sculptors. His great-grandfather was Johann August Nahl, the German sculptor and stuccist.
Nahl was trained at the Cassel Academy.

Career

Unease over the political state of Hesse led him and his friend Frederick August Wenderoth to Paris in 1846, where he enjoyed some success at the salon and changed his name to "Charles". The February Revolution prompted another move with his mother and siblings, including half-brother Hugo Wilhelm Arthur Nahl to Brooklyn, New York, where they heard of the gold strike. He arrived in Nevada City, California the next year, and then moved to Rough and Ready, California. Here, he purchased a "salted" mine. Having no luck along the Yuba River, Nahl and Hugo opened a studio with Wenderoth in Sacramento, moving to San Francisco after the 1852 Sacramento fire..

Olympic Club

The Nahl brothers were fine athletes. At their home in San Francisco's Bush Street, their backyard gymnasium served as the early version of the Olympic Club and was its headquarters during the period of 1855 to 1860. At his brother's suggestion, it was named the "San Francisco Olympic Club" and, at the club's inaugural meeting on May 6, 1860, his brother Arthur was elected its Leader.

Selected gallery