Cornelius Krieghoff

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Cornelius Krieghoff

'The Toll Gate', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1859

Cornelius David Krieghoff (June 19, 1815 – March 8, 1872) is probably the most popular Canadian painter of the 19th century. Krieghoff is most famous for his paintings of Canadian landscapes and Canadian life outdoors, particularly in the winter. He painted a number of variants of his most popular subject matter (e.g. Running the Toll).

Krieghoff was born in Amsterdam. He was initially taught by his father and then entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Germany about 1830. He moved to New York in 1836, and enlisted in the United States Army in 1837. While in the army, he made sketches of the Second Seminole War from which he later produced oil paintings. He deserted the army on May 5, 1840. Later that year, together with his wife Émilie Gauthier, he moved to Montreal, where he participated in the Salon de la Societe des Artistes de Montreal. While in Montreal, he befriended the Mohawks living on the Kahnawake Indian Reservation and made many sketches of them from which he later produced oil paintings. Krieghoff traveled to Paris in 1844, where he copied masterpieces at the Louvre under the direction of Michel Martin Drolling (1789-1851). The Krieghoffs returned to Montreal in 1846, and in 1847 he was invited to participate in the first exhibition of the Toronto Society of Arts. He and his family moved to Quebec City in 1853. He returned to Europe in 1854, visiting Italy and Germany. In 1855, he returned to Canada. The Great Quebec Fire of 1881 destroyed most of the sketches in his possession. He lived in Europe from 1863 to 1868 and then moved to Chicago to retire. He died in Chicago on March 8, 1871 at the age of 56 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

The Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario, Canada), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Ontario, Canada), the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton, Canada), the Brooklyn Museum (New York City), the Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Canada), the McCord Museum (Montreal, Canada), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, Canada), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Quebec, Canada), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada), the New York Public Library (New York City), and the Rockwell Museum of Western Art (Corning, New York), the Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, Canada) are among the public collections holding work by Cornelius Krieghoff. His work includes:

French Canadian Habitants Playing at Cards (1848 ), lithograph with watercolour on wove paper
The Sleigh Race on the St-Lawrence at Quebec (1852), oil on canvas
Montmorency Falls (1853), oil on canvas
The Habitant Farm (1856)
Self-portrait (1855), oil on canvas
Bilking the Toll (1860), oil on canvas

[edit] References

Barbeau, Charles Marius, Cornelius Krieghoff, Toronto, Ryerson Press, 1948.
Barbeau, Charles Marius, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, Toronto, The Macmillian Company of Canada, ltd., 1934.
Harper, J. Russell, Cornelius Krieghoff, The Habitant Farm, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1977.
Harper, J. Russell, Krieghoff, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1979.
Jouvancourt, Hugues de, Cornelius Krieghoff, Toronto, Musson Book Co., 1973.
Krieghoff, Cornelius, Cornélius Krieghoff, 1815-1872, Québec, Ministère des affaires culturelles, 1971.
Krieghoff, Cornelius and Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Toronto Society for Art Publications, 1962.
Krieghoff, Cornelius and Monsieur Winkworth, Exposition d'estampes en l'honneur de C. Krieghoff, 1815-1872, Montréal, McCord Museum, 1972.
Reid, Dennis R., Ramsay Cook and François-Marc Gagnon, Krieghoff, Iimages of Canada, Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 1999.
Vézina, Raymond, Cornelius Krieghoff, peintre de mœurs, 1815-1872, Québec, Éditions du Pélican, 1972.