Atlantic Canada
There are 19 prints from 8 artists of scenes in Atlantic Canada. Two prints are based on the work of pioneering Nova Scotia artist and art teacher William Eagar. There is also one piece important as part of the historical record of the clashes between France and Britain in their colonial territories.
For stories of day-to-day life, see the set (incomplete) from 'Sketches in New Brunswick' by the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company, which is a chronological description of development and growth of Stanley Township in the 1830's. A fishing trip in central New Brunswick in the 1860's is the subject of a fascinating and colourful set (incomplete) from 'Sketches on the Nipasaguit', written and illustrated by William Hickman. And there are historically-important landscapes by two pioneering women in the Canadian arts, Mary G. Hall and Lady Mary Love.
Featured Artists (8)
William Eagar
Here are two rare prints – ‘Entrance to Halifax Harbour’, and ‘View on Bedford Basin’ – by William Eagar (1796-1839), described in the late 1800’s as “probably the best topographical artist we have had (in Nova Scotia)”, and an important contributor to the province’s art history. These prints were among 12 scenes in the portfolio, Nova Scotia Illustrated in a Series of Views Taken on the Spot and on Stone by William Eagar. It was published in four parts in 1839 and 1840. Sadly, Eagar died of pneumonia in late 1839, having engraved only six of the pieces. The second six were published in his name posthumously, in the summer of 1840. The prints here are engraved by Eagar.
At the time of publication in 1839, Halifax newspaper commentator J.S. Thompson said: "Mr. Eagar's first number of 'Illustrations of Nova Scotia...' has appeared. Its reception has given much pleasure both for the beauty of the drawings, and the degree of success which has attended Mr. Eagar's persevering efforts to get his work well-lithographed....We hail Mr. Eagar's work, for its own sake, and the artist's; - and also, because it tends to demonstrate how much beauty and interest lie within easy walk of Halifax, - it will help also to increase taste in this delightful department of intellectual effort, and to make the province better known, and more respected."
Eagar undertook the portfolio for two important reasons – to establish that Nova Scotia was capable of producing sophisticated, top-quality art; and to promote the province at home and abroad as having a proud, confident and self-reliant vision of its place in the world.
Eagar was from Ireland and may have received his arts education there. He arrived at St. John’s Newfoundland between 1815 and 1820, where he lived until 1834 when he came to Halifax. During his life he was also an art teacher, and opened a Drawing Academy in Halifax. His students were mainly children of fashionable families who felt that learning the fundamentals of art was essential to a complete education. He is also credited with being among the first artists to introduce lithography to Nova Scotia.
W.R. Best
The stern architectural beauty of institutional buildings in St. John’s, Nfld., in the middle of the 19th century, is front-and-centre of an 1859 print which is categorized as scarce in today’s market – ‘Free St. Andrew’s Church, Bank (of) B.N.A., &c., &c. Duckworth Street…’. This prints, beautifully hand-coloured, is from a series of four based on drawings by English architect William Rayner Best in 1851. The other three feature St. Thomas Church, and buildings seen looking west past Government House to the city centre. Earlier, he had done a series of five prints on the same theme. They showed close-up views of the B.N.A. Bank, the Court House & Market, the Colonial Building, the Custom House, and Government House. Read More.
Mary G. Hall
The importance of the print ‘View of Digby, Nova Scotia’ is that Mary Hall of Saint John was both artist and engraver (on stone). As such, Hall became one of the earliest lithographic artists in Canada. This was seen as a bold step at the time (1835), with nearly all other artists doing the original illustration only, and contracting out the lithography.
This print was part of a set of six issued as Views of British America, Drawn from nature and on Stone by Mrs. Hall. Saint John 1835. Henry Chubb of Saint John printed the portfolio cover, the slipcase, and the text which went with each print. Chubb’s firm also assembled the finished portfolios after the prints were lithographed and tinted in Boston.
In another break from tradition, Hall chose to market the sets by selling advance subscriptions.
In her ongoing artistic endeavours, she painted topographical sketches of the Hudson River and Niagara Falls; and she was the director of a drawing academy in Saint John.
Chez Basset, Publisher
The unusual hand-coloured print, ‘Vue Persective de la Descente des Francois a L’Lsle de Terre Neuve…’ tells the story of the successful French landing at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, near St. John’s, on June 24, 1762. By June 27, the French had taken the lightly-defended port, and started strengthening defenses for the inevitable British counter-attack. As soon as news of the French victory reached Europe, this ‘reverse-image’ print was published in celebration. The print depicts the French forces pouring ashore and overrunning a small force of defenders. Read More.
‘Sketches in New Brunswick’
The founding and growth of the new township and settlement of Stanley in rural southern New Brunswick is the optimistic scenario which unfolds by way of a lively and colourful group of prints from artists Philip Harry, E.N. Kendall and W.P.Kay. The eight prints here are part of a set of 12 made into a portfolio for a land company in 1835. The proper name of the portfolio is: ‘Sketches in New Brunswick, taken principally with the intention of shewing the Nature, and description of the Land in the Tract Purchased by the New Brunswick & Nova Scotia Land-Company, in the year 1833; and of illustrating the operations of the Association during the Years 1834, & 1835’
The web site of Donald Heald Rare Books had the following complimentary commentary about the quality of the lithographs and the educational subject matter:
“A fascinating and rare work, setting out, in words and fine lithographed views, the details of the founding of a township. The actions and scenes took place in New Brunswick, Canada in 1833 to 1835 but they can be taken to represent similar events in wilderness areas across the sub-continent of North America during the whole period of European settlement.”
Given the sophistication of the portfolio, some historians feel that it had very limited production, with only a small number copies being made as gifts to the land company’s “more important” shareholders and directors. Others feel that the portfolio was used as an attention-getting prospectus to attract possible settlers, and that a sufficient number was printed for wider circulation to people who might be interested in emigrating and who would be able to afford the initial payment to buy a share in the company and in the promises of the exciting future of building a life in a new country. Certainly, there is no question as to the high quality of the portfolio. The artists all clearly had technical training, and when the plates are viewed in conjunction with the text (not included here), a clear view is presented of the series of events leading to the successful founding of a settlement.
The town of Stanley (named after the Colonial Secretary Lord Stanley) was founded in 1834, the site having been already chosen by the surveying party, which arrived in the area in July 1833. One of the first tasks was the building of a saw-mill, powered by damming the Nashwaak River.
This and other work was overseen for the first season by E.N.Kendall (a Royal Naval officer and the artist of plate No. 2). The ground was then cleared in preparation for building. By July, 1835, houses were being completed, a large acreage of ground cleared, and the area was beginning to look like an established settlement. All this is documented in these prints.
The township flourishes today. According to information on its website page:
"The village is located approximately 50 kilometres north of Fredericton. It is nestled around the hills on the banks of the picturesque Nashwaak River . . . Stanley was founded to act as a depot of supply, and center of social life for the homesteaders in the Upper Nashwaak Valley. The majority came from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, [according to a gazetteer published in 1856, the population had by then risen to 737] . . . All shared in the toil of hacking out an existence in this wilderness."
‘Sketches on the Nipisaguit’
Here is a group of rare and beautifully-hand-coloured plates documenting an 1860 fishing expedition by a group of friends on the Nipisaguit River (now the Nepisiguit) which flows from the northeast interior of New Brunswick to the Bay of Chaleur at Bathurst. There are seven prints here of the eight included originally in Sketches on the Nipisaguit by William Hickman who wrote that he went on the trip armed “with a fishing rod and a sketch book”.
Little is known of the author except that he was from England, and described himself as an amateur artist. He did not say who his fishing companions were. He wrote the preface to the portfolio while staying at at Nova Scotia’s Government House in Halifax, and the dedication is to Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant-Governor of the day, the Earl of Mulgrave.
The following commentary on the individual prints is from the 1917 book, Landmarks of Canada -- What Art has done for Canadian History.
Hickman: ‘Above the Grand Falls’
The view represented is that part of the Nipisaguit River immediately above the Grand Falls, twenty miles from Bathurst. The banks are formed of rocks and crevices in this locality and for miles above and below the cataract the river is very much contracted. As early as 1620 the Recollets had a mission station (in the district).
Hickman: ‘Grand Falls’
These falls, on the Nipisaguit River, descend from a height of over one hundred feet, and are about twenty miles above Bathurst. They consist of four distinct and step-like cliffs, and are at the head of the Narrows, where the river flows through a canyon between cliffs of slatey rock. At the foot of the falls the Nipisaguit whirls away in a dark- foam course for two miles.
Hickman: ‘The Camp, Grand Falls
The view shows a fisherman's wooden camp on the side of a steep hill overlooking the Nipisaguit River It is raised upon a platform of logs and is dry in all weather. To the right is the sleeping apartment, and the little bark hut to the left is the curing-house for salmon. The Nipisaguit, which has been called the "fisherman's elysium," is noted for its large salmon.
Hickman: ’Portage below the Little Falls’
Although these falls, on the Nipisaguit River are only three miles from the Grand Falls, the scenery is entirely different. The river is rapid and shallow, and the falls are little more than strong rapids, which render a portage necessary. The waters in this vicinity are a favorite haunt of numbers of grilse
Hickman: ‘Morning at the Mid-Landing’
The Nipisaguit River is here contracted within a rocky channel of about twenty yards, through which the waters pour in a long rapid. The high rock in centre of picture forms a good camping ground. In the neighborhood of Mid-Landing, the scenery is most picturesque.
Hickman: ‘Pabineau Falls’
The falls are known also as the Cranberry Falls, and are seven miles from Bathurst, on the Nipisaguit River. They consist of a series of chutes and small falls. The picture represents a salmon pool in 1860, at low water, surrounded by brilliantly colored water-stained rocks. Trout fishing is better in this locality than salmon, and the trout run to a large size.
Hickman: ‘Bathurst’
The picture shows a fishing party's return to Bathurst in 1860, after a successful six weeks' trip on the Nipisaguit River. The four canoes are lashed together and gaily decorated. Bathurst, the capital of Gloucester Co., N.B., is on Bathurst Bay which opens into Baie des Chaleurs. In the early days the basin was known to the Indians as Winkapiguwick, or ‘Nepisiguit’, meaning the "Foaming Waters." The district was an old battle ground of the Mohawks and Micmacs. It was settled in 1638 by Jean Jacques Enaud, a wealthy Basque, and his retainers. Mills were erected and an extensive fur trade established; but difficulties arose between the French and Indians, and the latter at length destroyed the settlement.At different times colonies were begun on the harbor, only to be destroyed by the Indians or by American privateers. The present town was founded in 1818 by Sir Howard Douglas and named in honor of the Earl of Bathurst.
Lady Mary Love
‘New Government House, Frederickton, N.B.’ first appeared in Vol. 2 of The British Dominions in North America . . . by Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor-General of Lower Canada. London. 1831. (Note the variation-spelling of Fredericton used by some publishers then.) This plate depicts the second of two mansions built at this location. “Shortly after Fredericton became the capital of New Brunswick in 1787, the Governor, Sir Thomas Carleton, purchased a large tract of land on the right bank of the River St. John, at the western end of the town, and erected thereon a large wooden residence, which was designated as ‘Government House.’ Read More
Wm. Craig, photographer
The view offered by ‘St. John. N.B. from the Beacon Light’ has been a favorite for artists, amateur and professional, throughout the city’s history. This image was done in 1864 for the firm of Bowron and Cox.
George Bowron and Thomas Cox were “daugerreotypists and photographists” who started their partnership in Minneapolis in 1857. They opened in Saint John in 1860, apparently attracted by the business possibilities created from the imminent Royal Visit by the Prince of Wales. Their Saint John studio continued in business until at least 1864. Read More
Atlantic Canada
There are 19 prints from 8 artists of scenes in Atlantic Canada. Two prints are based on the work of pioneering Nova Scotia artist and art teacher William Eagar. There is also one piece important as part of the historical record of the clashes between France and Britain in their colonial territories.
For stories of day-to-day life, see the set (incomplete) from 'Sketches in New Brunswick' by the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Land Company, which is a chronological description of development and growth of Stanley Township in the 1830's. A fishing trip in central New Brunswick in the 1860's is the subject of a fascinating and colourful set (incomplete) from 'Sketches on the Nipasaguit', written and illustrated by William Hickman. And there are historically-important landscapes by two pioneering women in the Canadian arts, Mary G. Hall and Lady Mary Love.
Featured Artists (8)
William Eagar
Here are two rare prints – ‘Entrance to Halifax Harbour’, and ‘View on Bedford Basin’ – by William Eagar (1796-1839), described in the late 1800’s as “probably the best topographical artist we have had (in Nova Scotia)”, and an important contributor to the province’s art history. These prints were among 12 scenes in the portfolio, Nova Scotia Illustrated in a Series of Views Taken on the Spot and on Stone by William Eagar. It was published in four parts in 1839 and 1840. Sadly, Eagar died of pneumonia in late 1839, having engraved only six of the pieces. The second six were published in his name posthumously, in the summer of 1840. The prints here are engraved by Eagar.
At the time of publication in 1839, Halifax newspaper commentator J.S. Thompson said: "Mr. Eagar's first number of 'Illustrations of Nova Scotia...' has appeared. Its reception has given much pleasure both for the beauty of the drawings, and the degree of success which has attended Mr. Eagar's persevering efforts to get his work well-lithographed....We hail Mr. Eagar's work, for its own sake, and the artist's; - and also, because it tends to demonstrate how much beauty and interest lie within easy walk of Halifax, - it will help also to increase taste in this delightful department of intellectual effort, and to make the province better known, and more respected."
Eagar undertook the portfolio for two important reasons – to establish that Nova Scotia was capable of producing sophisticated, top-quality art; and to promote the province at home and abroad as having a proud, confident and self-reliant vision of its place in the world.
Eagar was from Ireland and may have received his arts education there. He arrived at St. John’s Newfoundland between 1815 and 1820, where he lived until 1834 when he came to Halifax. During his life he was also an art teacher, and opened a Drawing Academy in Halifax. His students were mainly children of fashionable families who felt that learning the fundamentals of art was essential to a complete education. He is also credited with being among the first artists to introduce lithography to Nova Scotia.
W.R. Best
The stern architectural beauty of institutional buildings in St. John’s, Nfld., in the middle of the 19th century, is front-and-centre of an 1859 print which is categorized as scarce in today’s market – ‘Free St. Andrew’s Church, Bank (of) B.N.A., &c., &c. Duckworth Street…’. This prints, beautifully hand-coloured, is from a series of four based on drawings by English architect William Rayner Best in 1851. The other three feature St. Thomas Church, and buildings seen looking west past Government House to the city centre. Earlier, he had done a series of five prints on the same theme. They showed close-up views of the B.N.A. Bank, the Court House & Market, the Colonial Building, the Custom House, and Government House. Read More.
Mary G. Hall
The importance of the print ‘View of Digby, Nova Scotia’ is that Mary Hall of Saint John was both artist and engraver (on stone). As such, Hall became one of the earliest lithographic artists in Canada. This was seen as a bold step at the time (1835), with nearly all other artists doing the original illustration only, and contracting out the lithography.
This print was part of a set of six issued as Views of British America, Drawn from nature and on Stone by Mrs. Hall. Saint John 1835. Henry Chubb of Saint John printed the portfolio cover, the slipcase, and the text which went with each print. Chubb’s firm also assembled the finished portfolios after the prints were lithographed and tinted in Boston.
In another break from tradition, Hall chose to market the sets by selling advance subscriptions.
In her ongoing artistic endeavours, she painted topographical sketches of the Hudson River and Niagara Falls; and she was the director of a drawing academy in Saint John.
Chez Basset, Publisher
The unusual hand-coloured print, ‘Vue Persective de la Descente des Francois a L’Lsle de Terre Neuve…’ tells the story of the successful French landing at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, near St. John’s, on June 24, 1762. By June 27, the French had taken the lightly-defended port, and started strengthening defenses for the inevitable British counter-attack. As soon as news of the French victory reached Europe, this ‘reverse-image’ print was published in celebration. The print depicts the French forces pouring ashore and overrunning a small force of defenders. Read More.
‘Sketches in New Brunswick’
The founding and growth of the new township and settlement of Stanley in rural southern New Brunswick is the optimistic scenario which unfolds by way of a lively and colourful group of prints from artists Philip Harry, E.N. Kendall and W.P.Kay. The eight prints here are part of a set of 12 made into a portfolio for a land company in 1835. The proper name of the portfolio is: ‘Sketches in New Brunswick, taken principally with the intention of shewing the Nature, and description of the Land in the Tract Purchased by the New Brunswick & Nova Scotia Land-Company, in the year 1833; and of illustrating the operations of the Association during the Years 1834, & 1835’
The web site of Donald Heald Rare Books had the following complimentary commentary about the quality of the lithographs and the educational subject matter:
“A fascinating and rare work, setting out, in words and fine lithographed views, the details of the founding of a township. The actions and scenes took place in New Brunswick, Canada in 1833 to 1835 but they can be taken to represent similar events in wilderness areas across the sub-continent of North America during the whole period of European settlement.”
Given the sophistication of the portfolio, some historians feel that it had very limited production, with only a small number copies being made as gifts to the land company’s “more important” shareholders and directors. Others feel that the portfolio was used as an attention-getting prospectus to attract possible settlers, and that a sufficient number was printed for wider circulation to people who might be interested in emigrating and who would be able to afford the initial payment to buy a share in the company and in the promises of the exciting future of building a life in a new country. Certainly, there is no question as to the high quality of the portfolio. The artists all clearly had technical training, and when the plates are viewed in conjunction with the text (not included here), a clear view is presented of the series of events leading to the successful founding of a settlement.
The town of Stanley (named after the Colonial Secretary Lord Stanley) was founded in 1834, the site having been already chosen by the surveying party, which arrived in the area in July 1833. One of the first tasks was the building of a saw-mill, powered by damming the Nashwaak River.
This and other work was overseen for the first season by E.N.Kendall (a Royal Naval officer and the artist of plate No. 2). The ground was then cleared in preparation for building. By July, 1835, houses were being completed, a large acreage of ground cleared, and the area was beginning to look like an established settlement. All this is documented in these prints.
The township flourishes today. According to information on its website page:
"The village is located approximately 50 kilometres north of Fredericton. It is nestled around the hills on the banks of the picturesque Nashwaak River . . . Stanley was founded to act as a depot of supply, and center of social life for the homesteaders in the Upper Nashwaak Valley. The majority came from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, [according to a gazetteer published in 1856, the population had by then risen to 737] . . . All shared in the toil of hacking out an existence in this wilderness."
‘Sketches on the Nipisaguit’
Here is a group of rare and beautifully-hand-coloured plates documenting an 1860 fishing expedition by a group of friends on the Nipisaguit River (now the Nepisiguit) which flows from the northeast interior of New Brunswick to the Bay of Chaleur at Bathurst. There are seven prints here of the eight included originally in Sketches on the Nipisaguit by William Hickman who wrote that he went on the trip armed “with a fishing rod and a sketch book”.
Little is known of the author except that he was from England, and described himself as an amateur artist. He did not say who his fishing companions were. He wrote the preface to the portfolio while staying at at Nova Scotia’s Government House in Halifax, and the dedication is to Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant-Governor of the day, the Earl of Mulgrave.
The following commentary on the individual prints is from the 1917 book, Landmarks of Canada -- What Art has done for Canadian History.
Hickman: ‘Above the Grand Falls’
The view represented is that part of the Nipisaguit River immediately above the Grand Falls, twenty miles from Bathurst. The banks are formed of rocks and crevices in this locality and for miles above and below the cataract the river is very much contracted. As early as 1620 the Recollets had a mission station (in the district).
Hickman: ‘Grand Falls’
These falls, on the Nipisaguit River, descend from a height of over one hundred feet, and are about twenty miles above Bathurst. They consist of four distinct and step-like cliffs, and are at the head of the Narrows, where the river flows through a canyon between cliffs of slatey rock. At the foot of the falls the Nipisaguit whirls away in a dark- foam course for two miles.
Hickman: ‘The Camp, Grand Falls
The view shows a fisherman's wooden camp on the side of a steep hill overlooking the Nipisaguit River It is raised upon a platform of logs and is dry in all weather. To the right is the sleeping apartment, and the little bark hut to the left is the curing-house for salmon. The Nipisaguit, which has been called the "fisherman's elysium," is noted for its large salmon.
Hickman: ’Portage below the Little Falls’
Although these falls, on the Nipisaguit River are only three miles from the Grand Falls, the scenery is entirely different. The river is rapid and shallow, and the falls are little more than strong rapids, which render a portage necessary. The waters in this vicinity are a favorite haunt of numbers of grilse
Hickman: ‘Morning at the Mid-Landing’
The Nipisaguit River is here contracted within a rocky channel of about twenty yards, through which the waters pour in a long rapid. The high rock in centre of picture forms a good camping ground. In the neighborhood of Mid-Landing, the scenery is most picturesque.
Hickman: ‘Pabineau Falls’
The falls are known also as the Cranberry Falls, and are seven miles from Bathurst, on the Nipisaguit River. They consist of a series of chutes and small falls. The picture represents a salmon pool in 1860, at low water, surrounded by brilliantly colored water-stained rocks. Trout fishing is better in this locality than salmon, and the trout run to a large size.
Hickman: ‘Bathurst’
The picture shows a fishing party's return to Bathurst in 1860, after a successful six weeks' trip on the Nipisaguit River. The four canoes are lashed together and gaily decorated. Bathurst, the capital of Gloucester Co., N.B., is on Bathurst Bay which opens into Baie des Chaleurs. In the early days the basin was known to the Indians as Winkapiguwick, or ‘Nepisiguit’, meaning the "Foaming Waters." The district was an old battle ground of the Mohawks and Micmacs. It was settled in 1638 by Jean Jacques Enaud, a wealthy Basque, and his retainers. Mills were erected and an extensive fur trade established; but difficulties arose between the French and Indians, and the latter at length destroyed the settlement.At different times colonies were begun on the harbor, only to be destroyed by the Indians or by American privateers. The present town was founded in 1818 by Sir Howard Douglas and named in honor of the Earl of Bathurst.
Lady Mary Love
‘New Government House, Frederickton, N.B.’ first appeared in Vol. 2 of The British Dominions in North America . . . by Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor-General of Lower Canada. London. 1831. (Note the variation-spelling of Fredericton used by some publishers then.) This plate depicts the second of two mansions built at this location. “Shortly after Fredericton became the capital of New Brunswick in 1787, the Governor, Sir Thomas Carleton, purchased a large tract of land on the right bank of the River St. John, at the western end of the town, and erected thereon a large wooden residence, which was designated as ‘Government House.’ Read More
Wm. Craig, photographer
The view offered by ‘St. John. N.B. from the Beacon Light’ has been a favorite for artists, amateur and professional, throughout the city’s history. This image was done in 1864 for the firm of Bowron and Cox.
George Bowron and Thomas Cox were “daugerreotypists and photographists” who started their partnership in Minneapolis in 1857. They opened in Saint John in 1860, apparently attracted by the business possibilities created from the imminent Royal Visit by the Prince of Wales. Their Saint John studio continued in business until at least 1864. Read More
