Bulletin 12 (VI:2), 1968

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Robert Harris and The Fathers of Confederation

by Moncrieff Williamson

Pages  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  

Notes

1 Letter to Rev. Edward Alexander Harris, Mahone Bay, N. S.; in the Harris records, Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown. Unless otherwise stated, all citations hereafter are contained in documents in this collection.

2 Actual dimensions of original painting not recorded; see, however, note 32 below.

3 Letter dated from 11 Durocher Street, Montreal, P. Q., to Sir Joseph Pope, K. C. M. G., Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs.

4 Harris married Elizabeth (Bessie) Putnam on 21 May 1885.

5 See note 3 above.

6 Letter to Pope (see note 3 above).

7 On 27 February 1919.

8 Letter dated 13 February 1918. Property of Dean W. S. McNutt, University of New Brunswick.

9 Founded in 1880 by the Marquis of Lorne.

10 Synopsis of correspondence relating to the painting commemorative of Confederation and destroyed in the 1897 fire. Public Archives of Canada File A-27-1.

11 Public Archives of Canada, Order-in-Council P.C. 1239, 5 June 1884, R. G. 2.

12 See note 10 above.

13 Letter signed by A. Gobeil, No.30627, Subi. 33, R. G. 57. 186. Property of Dean W. S. McNutt.

14 Minister of Public Works.

15 Letter of 25 April1916 to Sir Joseph Pope (see note 3 above).

16 Ibid.

17 Property of Dean W. S. McNutt.

18 Undated clipping.

19 Apparently Pope had heard of a decorative painting done for the Royal Alexandra Hotel by F. S. Challener (see J. Russell Harper, Painting in Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966, p. 343). In an article in The Star Weekly (Toronto) of 30 June 1939, Eric Hutton interviewed Frederick S. Challener, R. C. A., who had painted his "first" reproduction of The Fathers in 1914. In 1917, after the original had been destroyed, and apparently without consulting Harris who was then still alive, the Ontario government commissioned Challener to execute a large painting for Queen's Park. Challener based his painting on "the rough draft made by Harris on brown paper which was kept in the National Gallery of Canada." In the opinion of the late H. O. McCurry, then Acting Director of the National Gallery, "Harris painted [The Fathers] on direct commission for the government and therefore did not register it, and the government did not bother to copyright what it likely considered the property of the whole people of Canada." At this late date it is impossible to explain Challener's conduct in ignoring Harris, which, in my view, was both discourteous and unethical.

20 Letter dated 25 April 1916 (see note 3 above).

21 Collection of Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown.

22 The letter, written in May 1917, is reproduced in full on pages 20-21. Mr. Fleming was Art Instructor at the Normal School, Ottawa.

23 Armchairs which survived the Quebec Fire and were part of original furnishings.

24 Harris's term for a room in which an historic "incident" or meeting was held.

25 The letter is dated 4 March 1918. Sarah was the wife of Professor George E. Robinson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

26 Frank MacKinnon, "Robert Harris and Canadian Art," Dalhousie Review, vol. XXVIII, July 1948, p. 149.

27 Letter dated from Ottawa 24 June 1916. Property of Dean W. S. McNutt.

28 Property of Dean W. S. McNutt.

29 Sir Edmond Walker was Chairman of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Written from the bank's Head Office in Toronto, the letter was dated 29 November 1916.

30 Letter dated from 11 Durocher Street, Montreal, 1 December 1916.

31 Letter dated from 11 Durocher Street, Montreal,8 December 1916. Property of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

32 On Wednesday 30 June 1965, the Hon. Alan A. MacNaughton, Speaker, announced in the House of Commons that Confederation Life Association would present to the Nation an exact restoration of the Robert Harris painting by the Toronto artist Rex Woods. This canvas would measure 7 x 13 feet.

33 See note 22 above.

34 Dominion Archivist from 1904 to 1935; later Sir Arthur Doughty.

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