Joseph Légarè

JOSEPHLÉGARÉ
(1795 - 1855)

Born in Quebec, Joseph Légaré developed a love for painting early in his life. He apprenticed in 1812 as a decorative painter and finished the apprenticeship within five years. In 1819, he bought thirty pieces of the Desjardin Collection; this was a collection of copies of the work of minor artists who had great symbolic significance in Canada representing the French visual culture (landscapes, religious, historical). Most were bought by Légaré and later, as part of his private collection, were exhibited as one of the first art galleries in Canada. As he purchased them, he cleaned and restored them. Throughout his life he collected more paintings, as well, and featured them in public exhibits in 1832 and later again in 1852.Légaré's most original contribution was landscape painting. He was one of the earliest painters to make oil pictures of the local scenery. Most of his remarkable work came from the community crises that he documented through his paintings.

Examples of these crisis were the cholera plague in the 1830's, the rock slide at Capaux-Diamants in 1841, and the Saint-Jean Quarter city burning of 1845. A portrait that he was praised for by the subject was the governor, George IV of the Legislative Council Chamber.

The Fire in the Saint-Jean Quarter,
Seen Looking Westward (c.1845)

The Ruins after the Fire in the
Saint-Jean Quarter Looking East (c.1845)

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