Sold for: $121,250

PROVENANCE
A gift from the Artist to the great-grandfather of the owner
By descent through the family to the present Private Collection, England
Sold Sale of Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 24, 2017, lot 116

LITERATURE
Ian M. Thom et al., Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2015, page 11, a similar 1860 oil entitled The Royal Mail Crossing the St. Lawrence reproduced page 31

As Ian Thom wrote, “The history of Canadian painting is closely allied to the history of European settlement in Canada.” Cornelius Krieghoff, who spent his early life in Europe and arrived in Canada about 1840, assimilated into communities in Montreal and Quebec City, where he became an important chronicler of life in Lower Canada. He acquired a steady clientele of British army officers and merchants, and many Krieghoffs left the country with them – as did this fine work, which was acquired directly from the artist and then taken to England, where it remained for generations, now offered for sale for the first time. Scenes such as this showed the challenges of life in early Canada, where people dealt with the rigours of nature to carry out their everyday activities. In this fine painting, the delivery of mail involved grappling with chunks of winter ice to find open channels on the St. Lawrence River. Not only is this canvas a fascinating document of such activities, it also showcases Krieghoff’s fine European painting techniques, particularly in the exquisite handling of the ice.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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