Sold for: $16,380

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Ontario
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Evelyn Lloyd Coburn, F.S. Coburn: Beyond the Landscape, 1996, a similar 1919 oil panel entitled March Morning, The Red Carriole #2, in the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, reproduced page 81 and a similar 1946 oil entitled On the Melbourne Road, in the Frederick Simpson Coburn Collection, Sherbrooke, reproduced front cover and page 113

After spending considerable time in Europe at the Berlin Academy, the École des beaux-arts in Paris, the Slade School of Fine Art in London and finally the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Frederick Coburn was diverted back to Montreal by the German invasion of Belgium in 1914. While in Europe, Coburn collaborated with W.H. Drummond and Louis-Honoré Fréchette, illustrating their stories of French Canada – its legends, traditions, religion and everyday realities.

On his return to Canada, Coburn, who came from a farming community in the Eastern Townships, immersed himself once again in Quebec’s unique culture, building a studio in his home township of Upper Melbourne. Coburn had mastered fine techniques of painting in Europe, but it was the fresh colour and atmosphere of Canada that dominated his work. His enduring theme was of habitants and horse-drawn sleighs in winter, and the image of a white horse and red carriole was a recurring favourite. In this sparkling work, the snow, brilliant in the sun or blue-shadowed, is exquisitely handled, the atmosphere palpable, and the colour contrasts with the red sleigh vibrant.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars