One of the most valuable contributions that the late 19^th century artists made were to show the missions "as they existed" in the mission era, stimulating interest in their restoration. Edwin Deakin's paintings are famous for their detailed rendering of architectural surfaces. After painstaking research he recreated several missions that no longer existed, such San Rafael, which had totally disappeared. His style was characterized as "romantic, picturesque and nostalgic." Deakin painted all the missions. His working sketches are on display in the Howard Willoughby collection in the Oakland Art Museum, which also has several of his paintings. The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and the Santa Barbara Mission both have complete sets of the Deakin oils.