Robert Harris is best known for his work The Fathers of Confederation. Welsh-born, he came to Canada with his family and grew up on Prince Edward Island with dreams of being an artist. He was sent to Boston to study painting and financed his studies by painting portraits. He later studied in Europe where he learned to paint landscapes in the French Impressionist style. Upon his return to Canada he settled in Montreal.
In 1883 Harris was chosen to produce a painting illustrating the 1864 conference in Quebec which led to Confederation. The painting made him one of the most well known portrait artists in Canada at the time. The Confederation painting was hung in the Ottawa Parliament buildings and was, unfortunately, destroyed by a fire in 1916. We know of the iconic image today because of a 1885 photograph that survives of the painting (see above) and a 1917 postage stamp.
Harris' 1885 painting, A Meeting of the School Trustees, illustrates a confrontation between PEI teacher Kate Henderson and school trustees. It has been featured on Canadian stamps and brought t
o life in a Heritage Minute video.
The gallery has a few beautifully painted landscapes by Harris. Using his impressionist training, he lovingly painted the scenes around him in the Maritime provinces, Quebec, the United States, and overseas.
Next week we'll tell you a story about one of the Harris paintings in the gallery.
To see Robert Harris paintings
available at the gallery click here.
