Sold for: $32,175

PROVENANCE
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
Dennis Reid, Krieghoff / Images of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1999, a similar 1858 work entitled Indian Trapper on Snowshoes, in The Thomson Collection, the Art Gallery of Ontario, reproduced page 175 and a similar 1866 canvas entitled The Indian Hunter, also in The Thomson Collection, reproduced page 184

Cornelius Krieghoff, Canada’s best-known nineteenth century artist, had a great affinity for First Nations peoples, and often depicted them, both in single figure subjects such as hunters and moccasin sellers, and in complex tableau settings. In the 1840s, while living at Montreal and Longeuil, he was in contact with the Mohawks from the village of Caughnawaga, and after moving to Quebec City after 1853, observed the Hurons at the nearby village of Lorette, amongst other peoples. Single figures such as the hunter represented in this fine winter scene were portrayed by Krieghoff more as archetypes than as individual personalities. He paid great attention to authentic ethnographic detail, carefully depicting the subject's snowshoes, Hudson’s Bay blanket coat, leggings, mittens and distinctive hat with its feather crest. Krieghoff himself enjoyed hunting, and was said to be a fine marksman, and it was common for native guides to be hired for these excursions. Striding along briskly, full of purpose and undeterred by the wintery conditions, this self-sufficient hunter is an idealized icon of native life, much admired by Krieghoff and his collectors of the time.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars