Cornelius Krieghoff, although born in the Netherlands and trained in Germany, did not fully emerge as an artist until his arrival in Canada in about 1846. At first, he settled in Montreal, but he had moved to Quebec City by 1853 and spent most of his career there until he returned to Europe in 1863. He returned to North America in 1868, when he retired to Chicago, and he died in that city in 1872. Overall, his time working as an artist in Canada was less than 20 years. This fact makes his artistic production even more remarkable, because it can safely be said that Krieghoff, in a period of less than two decades, defined the artistic life of nineteenth-century Quebec. He did so by being both incredibly productive and by spending serious time studying the landscape of Quebec and the lives and customs of the Indigenous communities and settlers who dwelt in the province. He depicted these residents and their environs with an intricacy and liveliness that is unmatched in the history of Canadian painting.

The canvas Toboggan Sliding from Quebec Citadel is a vital depiction of the recreation of Québécois citizens in the mid-nineteenth century. The important Krieghoff scholar Marius Barbeau describes the work briefly in his catalogue raisonné:

Slope downwards from right. Man and woman on toboggan—to left, towards Sillery and St. Lawrence. Two other people walking with toboggan. Snowshoes planted in snow. Rock to right, fence to left. Late afternoon, reddish sky.

While Barbeau’s description is accurate, it in no way conveys the remarkable joy found in this painting. The immediacy of the image suggests that we are present with these Québécois enjoying their toboggans. That this image was certainly done in Krieghoff’s studio rather than on site makes the immediacy of the scene that much more noteworthy.

One of Krieghoff’s greatest skills was his ability as an observer of the world around him. Look, for example, at his depiction of the principal tobogganers in the image. He pays attention to the details of their winter clothing and their relationship to each other. The woman at the front of the toboggan, enrobed in a fur jacket and blanket, clutches her partner’s foot as they pick up speed. He guides the toboggan in their journey down the slope by running his gloved hand in the snow. Where she looks a bit unsettled by the ride, which looks to be just beginning, he seems to be keenly anticipating their slide downhill. Krieghoff has suggested the pair’s momentum by the upward movement of her scarf and the track made by the toboggan in the snow. The other couple, who have walked up the hill to make another run, are quickly delineated, but again Krieghoff has been careful to paint the woman’s scarf blown out, suggesting both movement and, perhaps, a gentle breeze.

The composition is centred on the couple beginning their ride down the citadel hill in Quebec City, but Krieghoff has also included a view across the St. Lawrence River at the left. The tobogganers’ safety is ensured by a snow-covered fence also seen to the left. Krieghoff emphasizes the coldness of this winter scene by the bare branches of the shrubs, the expanse of the snowy slope and the openness of the sky. He has defined the space of the composition using several elements—the rock and bushes in the right foreground, the snowshoes, the two couples and their toboggans, the distant bushes, the fence at the left and, in the distance, the far shore of the river. Even though this canvas was painted in his studio, Krieghoff makes the viewer feel they are there with these tobogganers.

Toboggan Sliding from Quebec Citadel, painted 166 years ago, has an immediacy and vigour that is startling. The painting vividly reminds us of how important Krieghoff’s images have been in defining our understanding of nineteenth-century Quebec.

We thank Ian M. Thom, Senior Curator—Historical at the Vancouver Art Gallery from 1988 to 2018, for contributing the above essay.