Cornelius David Krieghoff 1815 - 1872

Mrs. J.W. Gale, Toronto

Private Collection, Quebec City

Marius Barbeau, Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America, Toronto, 1934, listed under Copies of European Pictures (1845 - 1861) as Fording a River, pp. 27 and 149

J. Russell Harper, Krieghoff, Toronto, 1979, p. 150 and no. 159 on p. 195

This is painted on finely woven canvas laid down on board. There is fine craquellure throughout and some paint loss around the edges due to rubbing from the frame. There are small scratches along the lower edge. Under UV, previous restoration throughout is evident.
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Over the course of his lifetime, Krieghoff was to copy many European paintings which he would sign with his own signature, and then write a caveat, "after" with the name of the artist.

Barbeau notes the names of several artists whose paintings Krieghoff copied either while at the Louvre in Paris or galleries in Luxembourg.  These copies of old masters were brought back to Canada and quickly found their way into collections in Montreal and Quebec City.  Barbeau confirms the identity of this work in his Krieghoff catalogue raisonné.

Harper, with further research tells of Krieghoff on August 6, 1861, putting up for auction a large part of his print collection.  He used these prints as a basis for making oil canvases on commission.  Included in these prints were chromolithographs from original paintings with some after Sir Augustus W. Callcott (1779 - 1844).  He was an artist who had a considerable reputation in the early nineteenth century.  Newspapers at the time make reference to these prints and Callcott.