October 15, 2010:

This is my main project for the winter. Good art reflects the geographic and social conditions of our local history.

This web page will explore the development of painting in the Ottawa and Gatineau area of Canada from the 1700's up to the 
present time.

The main general textbooks used are A Concise History of Canadian Painting, by Dennis Reid, Oxford University Press, 
ISBN 0-19-540207-3, 1973, and

Painting in Canada: A History, by J. Russell Harper, University of Toronto Press, 1966,
ISBN 0-8020-6307-1

October 18, 2010:
Painting of Two members of the Algonquin Indian Band, 1700's
Painting by Philea Gagnon
Source: Since Time Immemorial: "Our Story", The Story of the Kitigan Zibi Ashinàbeg, page 20

>


The earliest painters in our region were British Army Officers. Many of these men were trained in watercolour painting
of local geography and engineering features such as bridges and canals. They were topographers, surveyors and chroniclers of
large engineering projects.

Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown / Cornwall, 1784 (UEL)
Painting by James Peachey, Military Surveyor in Upper Canada
Source: Colonial Identities: Canada from 1760 to 1815, page 69

>


Chaudiere Falls
Painting by Thomas Davies - View of the Great Falls on the Outouais River, undated, but before 1800.
Source: National Gallery of Canada
Thomas Davies was a member of the Royal Artillery, stationed in the 1790's at Quebec City.
He sketched while on fishing trips on tributaries of the St. Lawrence River.
If your ancestors arrived in our region after 1800, say with the Philomen Wright settlers, 
this is what their new surroundings looked like in the beginning.




The next few paintings were done by Royal Engineers of the Sappers and Miners who came to the Ottawa area to
build the 120 mile long Rideau Canal between Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario. The book used as a source for these
watercolour paintings is Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, by Robert Passfield.

Painting by Captain H. Y. DuVernet, Royal Staff Corps - Wrightville / Hull in 1823
Source: Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, page 40



Painting by Thomas Burrowes - Rideau Falls on the Ottawa River, c. 1826
Source: Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, page 45



Royal Sappers and Miners Working Dress, 
Painting by George B. Campion, Drawing Master, Royal Military Academy, 1825
Source: Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, page 49



Painting by Colonel John By - Long Island Locks, c. 1826
Source: Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, page 75



This next watercolour was painted by James Pattison Cockburn. He was well-known beyond the Ottawa area. The photo below is
at the Royal Ontario Museum. This picture depicts an Irish labourer in August of 1830. Thousands of labourers came to work
on the construction of the Rideau Canal. The man in the painting, wearing a stereotypical stove pipe hat probably was a
squatter living at Long Island Village. By the 1840's, most of these families had moved inland and acquired farms in Nepean
and Gloucester / Osgoode Townships. This man might even be my GreatGreatGrandfather, Lawrence Burns. Work with me!

Painting by James Pattison Cockburn at Long Island Lock Station, August, 1830
Source: Building the Rideau Canal: A Pictorial History, page 78




November 5, 2010:
Source: Pioneer Settlements in Upper Canada, by Edwin C. Guillet, page 18




One of the most prolific painters in the Ottawa area was John Burrows. As the canal was being 
constructed, he travelled its length and recorded each lock along the way. 
Here is an 1845 watercolour executed at Smiths Falls.









Portrait Painting

Source: Bytown Gazette, June 20, 1844
Robert Sproule opens a painting school in Bytown. Miniatures were popular among the growing commercial, agricultural and official members
of a local society which was able to aspire to a more civilized life. While still a frontier town, Bytown was
developing it's own "elite".



Joseph Bouchette was the Surveyor General of Canada. He surveyed and mapped large parts of Western Quebec. Here is a 
miniature which he had painted for himself in 1805 in London.
Miniature Painting of Joseph Bouchette, 1805
Source: Terra Nostra, 1550-1950, The Stories Behind Canada's Maps, page 137
 


November 10, 2010:
An Italian portrait painter worked in Bytown / Ottawa in 1850. He was possibly commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church,
In the late 1840's, Ottawa had grown enough to be declared a Diocese headed by a Bishop and the Grey Nuns arrived from Montreal.

Here is a death record for Signor G. Fassio, Portrait Painter, in 1850.
Bytown, January 2, 1851
Burial of Signor (Gerome) Fassio, portrait painter and native of Rome, Italy, who died the day before yesterday, 
aged about 60 yrs. (actually born in Rome in 1789)
Witnesses: Dr. Lacroix & Philibert Bastien
Source: DROUIN Records for Notre Dame Cathedral, Sussex Drive, Ottawa. (ancestry.ca)

Painting by Signor G. Fassio of Amélia Berthelet, c. 1835
Source: National Gallery of Canada, Fassio Collection

 


  December 18, 2010:

If there is anymore information you could send to me with regards to Signor G. Fassio for my family history: 
The cemetery where he was buried - If he had family listed on his death record - Information on his son Eugene coming 
to Australia -
Where Signor Fassio was before he came to Bytown - anything would be very much appreciated.

My gr. gr. grandfather Eugenio Fassio is mentioned as his son in the - Dictionary of Canadian Biography - He came to Australia early 1850's +.
Your are very welcome to put my email address on your site.

Thanking you,
... Karen Kenyon, Australia
E-Mail: Karen Kenyon
___________________________

November 23, 2010:

Cornelius Krieghoff was one of the most famous painters in Quebec. His paintings usually show local people
doing everyday events. However, this one, below, is a landscape painting executed at the Chaudiere Falls in 1858.
He also did some paintings at the seignory of Longueuil, east of Ottawa, and now a township in Ontario.

While living in Longueiul in the early 1850's, with his wife and daughter, Krieghoff was a neighbour of A.Y. Jackson's 
Grandfather, who bought some of Krieghoff's paintings.

By 1861, the Krieghoff family was living in Quebec City with John Budden, who convinced Krieghoff to move there
by offering to be his agent in a far larger market area for artists. Here is the Krieghoff family and John Budden
in the 1861 census for Canada East. (Source: ancestry.ca)

Text Source, immediately below: Dennis Reid, A Concise History of Canadian Painting, page 65




Cornelius Krieghoff, Chaudiere Falls, 1858
Painting below, source: National Gallery of Canada






Art printed in Local County Atlases:

In 1863 and in 1879, commercial companies produced professional works showing individuals, farms and businesses.
This coffee-table sized book is useful for genealogy purposes in all of the townships which now
make up the City of Ottawa.

For example, Belden's Atlas of the County of Carleton was produced in 1879. Here is the entry for
Archibald McKellar and his farm on the Ottawa River:


The McKellar Park Subdivision in Ottawa

Last Name: McKellar 
First Name: Archibald 
Date of birth: 1813 
Nativity: Scotland 
Business: Dairyman; Farmer; Stock Grower 
Year Settled: 1873 
Post Office: Ottawa 
Township: Nepean 
County: Carleton 
Atlas Date: 1879 


Source:  Belden's 1879 Atlas of Carleton County, Page 5



Edward Armstrong, Reeve of Huntley Township in 1878
Source:  Belden's 1879 Atlas of Carleton County, Page 21

        

October 16, 2010:

To Al Lewis,

I have been driving highway 2 from Fort MacLeod, Alberta to Calgary for over
forty years. I was always puzzled and confused about a grave marker I saw
which was located outside the fence of the Granum, Alberta cemetery. I
stopped recently and discovered the beautiful stone marks the resting place
of a woman named Mary Fitzpatrick. Sept, 1865 - April 16, 1908. Also
affectionately written on the stone the words "Beloved wife of E.R. Chugg.
It is very obvious to me that the memorial marker was placed long after
Mary's passing away in 1908. What is confusing is that the grave is outside
of the cemetery.  Perhaps back in 1908 the logistics and surveys were not
reliable. In a sad way passing by I always wondered how this person was laid
to rest outside the cemetery. 

I am writing this note to you because after I read the names on the grave
stone I goggled E.R. Chugg and discovered a email dated February 24, 2007.
You may well be aware of the information that this total stranger is sending
to you today.  However I am sincere and trust that it may be helpful in some
small way. lonesome

Now when I am rolling down the hi-way smiling I say hello to Mary and E.R.
It is a lonesome scene, the grave and marker is outside the Granum Cemetery
fence. It makes me feel good to be able to be a friend passing by just to
say hello so they won't feel isolated and friendless and cut off. The others
laid to rest behind the fence and tree line are missing the excitement of
all the many travellers passing through. I believe Mary and E.R. are keeping
their neighbours inside informed of all the excitement on the outside.

May all your campfires be as open and as warm as your hearts.

David W. Johnston
davidwjohnston@shaw.ca


Grave Marker of Mary Fitzpatrick. Sept, 1865 - April 16, 1908. Also
affectionately written on the stone the words "Beloved wife of E.R. Chugg"                                      
                                                         October 16, 2010: (Added painting "Pioneer Memories" by Robert Bateman, 1981)
                                                                             Source: The World of Robert Bateman, text by Ramsay Derry, ISBN 0-670-83095-X 
                                                                                                       Madison Press Books, page 100.
    


October 28, 2010:

Here are three paintings executed by local artists in the 1970's. The first two were painted by Esther Schweig,
from Combermere in Renfrew County. Some of her work was exhibited in an art show in Wilno, Canada's first Polish Settlement.
This shows the influence of the Group of Seven artists who began painting in Algonquin Park around 1900. Some of them lived in
Ottawa at various times in their lives (A.Y. Jackson and Frederick Varley).

The third painting was done by my aunt who is a painter living in Carleton Place. She based this painting on a photograph of
my mother cross-country skiing in Fitzroy Provincial Park.

Unfortunately, the photographic flash reflects strongly from the centre of the paintings, but you get the picture!







November 19, 2010:

Gerald Trottier, born in 1925 in Ottawa, was a well-known Canadian artist. He worked in the Confederation Building for the
Department of Agriculture (OK, now Agriculture Canada) after going to Europe on a hockey scholarship for his art training.

Here is one of his paintings from 1946: Gerald Trottier, - By Ward Market, Ottawa

Painting Source: National Gallery of Canada                Newspaper Source: Ottawa Citizen, July 26, 1958

            
Keywords: Lorne Bentham, Florence Sullivan, Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Commerce

Beginning in the late 1800's many members of the Ottawa area arts and literature circle worked in the Public Service.
The poet Archibald Lampman worked in the Post Office Department beginning in 1883. His close friend here was 
Duncan Campbell Scott. (Source: The Frontier and Canadian Letters, by Wilfrid Eggleston, 1957, page 133).