CGP CSGA CSPWC FRSA MSA OSA PRCA
1900 - 1994
Canadian
The Council of the Northern Department of Rupert’s Land, Meeting at Norway House, June 21, 1836
oil on canvas, circa 1934
on verso titled on the Hudson’s Bay Company Collection label
33 x 31 in, 83.8 x 78.7 cm
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
Sold for: $49,250
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Collection of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Canada
LITERATURE
Hudson's Bay Company, Company Calendar, 1936, reproduced
Andrea M. Paci, “Picture This: Hudson’s Bay Company Calendar Images and Their Documentary Legacy, 1913 – 1970,” master’s thesis, University of Manitoba / University of Winnipeg, 2000, mentioned page 69 note 58
This painting, classically arranged by Charles Comfort, is an example of the Hudson’s Bay Company calendar serving to reinforce an idealized image of strength and authority tied to the Company’s colonial presence. The setting is Norway House, the most important trading post in the interior of Rupert’s Land. The annual councils, largely comprised of the governor and the various chief factors of the trading posts, would meet here rather than the more northerly York Factory beginning in the 1830s. Here, Governor George Simpson is flanked by the commissioned officers of the committee, while two clerks dutifully record the decisions. Above them, a higher authority still, is Lord Horatio Nelson, Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy, in a portrait by William von Moll Berczy (lot 22 in this sale)—a reminder of the ultimate imperial hierarchy within which the Company operated.
Notable discussions at the 1836 meeting included the reconstruction of Upper Fort Garry and planning for an expedition to the Arctic led by Peter Warren Dease, the figure standing rear left.
For more information on the Hudson's Bay Company Calendar Paintings in PDF format, please click here.
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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