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Lot Essay
A masterpiece from the height of the artist's career in Quebec in the 1850s, when Krieghoff's optimistic portraits of pioneer and frontier life reflected the push for national expansion and consolidation.
'The Quebec period of Krieghoff, from 1853 to 1867, is by far his best and most prolific. ... His best winter scenes were painted in 1856 and 1857, mostly for Philadelphia art printers and patrons.' (M. Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, Toronto, 1934, p.74-5)
'Krieghoff's happiest and most productive years were spent in Quebec City. In the decade following 1853, when he first settled there at the age of thirty-eight, he achieved his greatest success as an artist. Despite the many light-hearted hours he spent with close friends, his output was enormous. Canvases sold quickly, and at relatively high prices, to many admirers.' (J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, Toronto, 1979, p.59)
'It was two or three years after moving to Quebec before Krieghoff returned to any real interest in habitant scenes, but in 1856 a series of ambitious canvases began to appear. ... As the relatively limited traditional farming areas along the St Lawrence began to fill up, thousands of landless young people were immigrating to New England to work in the mill towns, or to the American West to homestead, and in fear of losing a sizeable proportion of the francophone Catholic population, the government opened crown lands for settlement in the regions of the Sageunay, the St Maurice River above Trois-Rivieres, along the Gatineau River north of Bytown, and in parts of the Eastern Townships. Such colonisation, as it was known in French, was vigorously supported by the Church, as well as the government, and thousands sought to start new lives on often marginal land. ...' (D. Reid, Krieghoff: Images of Canada, Toronto, 1999, p.85)
'The Quebec period of Krieghoff, from 1853 to 1867, is by far his best and most prolific. ... His best winter scenes were painted in 1856 and 1857, mostly for Philadelphia art printers and patrons.' (M. Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, Toronto, 1934, p.74-5)
'Krieghoff's happiest and most productive years were spent in Quebec City. In the decade following 1853, when he first settled there at the age of thirty-eight, he achieved his greatest success as an artist. Despite the many light-hearted hours he spent with close friends, his output was enormous. Canvases sold quickly, and at relatively high prices, to many admirers.' (J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, Toronto, 1979, p.59)
'It was two or three years after moving to Quebec before Krieghoff returned to any real interest in habitant scenes, but in 1856 a series of ambitious canvases began to appear. ... As the relatively limited traditional farming areas along the St Lawrence began to fill up, thousands of landless young people were immigrating to New England to work in the mill towns, or to the American West to homestead, and in fear of losing a sizeable proportion of the francophone Catholic population, the government opened crown lands for settlement in the regions of the Sageunay, the St Maurice River above Trois-Rivieres, along the Gatineau River north of Bytown, and in parts of the Eastern Townships. Such colonisation, as it was known in French, was vigorously supported by the Church, as well as the government, and thousands sought to start new lives on often marginal land. ...' (D. Reid, Krieghoff: Images of Canada, Toronto, 1999, p.85)