Sold for: $43,250

PROVENANCE
James Gibb, Quebec City
Mrs. David Ross, whose first husband was James Gibb
By descent to John Theodore Ross, Quebec City
By descent to a Private Collection, Vancouver Island
Private Collection, Montreal
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 8, 2001, lot 18, back cover lot
Private Collection, Montreal
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 24, 2005, lot 146
Private Collection, Quebec

LITERATURE
J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, 1999, a close-up detail showing Gibb and Krieghoff in the 1859 painting Death of the Moose, South of Quebec reproduced page 147

It is probably fair to say that for Cornelius Krieghoff, the most important season was winter. His images of the people of Quebec playing, working and living their lives in a world of white are among his most sought after. The effects of snow and snowfall, so clearly seen in this canvas, suggest Krieghoff’s deep understanding of the conditions of winter and his keen eye for what might prove to be popular subjects for his patrons, the merchants and military men of Montreal and Quebec.

Krieghoff paid close attention to all the details of the landscape in this fine painting - the various trees dusted with snow, the grey expanse of the sky and the wide open, snow-covered path. He showed his mastery of atmosphere in his depiction of the mistiness created by the falling snow as it gathers and obscures the path in the distance. Similarly, he has been careful to depict the details of the clothing of the hunters and their rifles, and he suggested a sense of their hardship in the snowstorm by showing the man laden with a pack trudging up the path, leaning into the wind.

In common with his best work, the element of narrative – here, a caribou hunt – is an important aspect of the painting. Krieghoff was aware that many of his paintings would not remain in Canada, and such a scene would have an element of exoticism for a viewer in England. Within Canada, Krieghoff had a strong following of collectors, who appreciated his ability to capture the essence of life in Quebec at the time.

A friend and patron of the artist who owned a number of his paintings, James Gibb, a banker, lumber merchant and prominent businessman, originally purchased this work. For Gibb it probably had a more personal sense – perhaps an experience shared with the artist, as Gibb often accompanied Krieghoff on hunting and fishing expeditions. The 1859 painting Death of the Moose, South of Quebec showed Gibb, Krieghoff, John Budden and their Indigenous guide gathered around a freshly killed moose.

A later owner, John Theodore Ross, also owned several important Krieghoff paintings. Ross possessed the masterpieces Merrymaking, 1860, now in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB, and Winter Scene in the Laurentians – The Laval River (The Crack in the Ice), 1867, subsequently in the Kenneth Thomson Collection. On verso of this painting is a photocopy of a black and white photograph showing Caribou Hunters in a Winter Snow Storm hanging in the Rosses’ home along with their other masterpieces by Krieghoff.

Over 160 years later, Caribou Hunters in a Winter Snow Storm is, for us, a valuable record of Quebec history and a glimpse of a lost way of life.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars