Sold for: $28,125

PROVENANCE
John Budden, Quebec City
William Darling Sr., Montreal
Galerie Bernard Desroches, Montreal
Galerie Claude Lafitte, Montreal
Private Collection, Quebec City

LITERATURE
Dennis Reid, Krieghoff: Images of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1999, the circa 1844 canvas Caughnawaga Indian Encampment at a Portage and the circa 1848 canvas A Caughnawaga Indian Encampment, both in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, reproduced pages 23 and 24, and the 1850 canvas The Trader, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, showing the same grouping of Indigenous people (with the same unusual blue jacket), reproduced page 30

From 1846 to 1853, Cornelius Krieghoff lived in Montreal and Longueuil, and during this time, he often painted the Iroquois of Caughnawaga. During the summer, they left the village of Caughnawaga to live in the surrounding tribal lands. Typical of Krieghoff’s treatment of these scenes during this period, he paints a close-up view of a grouping by their birchbark canoe. Their clothing is meticulously detailed, showing a Hudson’s Bay blanket coat and shawl, a handsome blue jacket, a toque, moccasins and a bag. Strapped to the back of the individual in blue is a basket of fruit, while in the background the artist includes a couple by a fire in front of their tent. It is a peaceful and idyllic scene, typical of Krieghoff’s romantic vision of Indigenous people.

Not only an extraordinary record of Iroquois life, Caughnawaga Indian Encampment at a Portage is also a beautiful landscape – a creek meanders by, an embankment gives a feeling of shelter, and through a distant arched opening emerge the sky and misty mountains. A triangle of open sky at the top reveals billowing white clouds, creating a dreamy atmosphere.

The first collector of this work was John Budden, an auctioneer from Quebec City who was a close friend of the artist.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars