Théophile-Abraham Hamel (b. at Ste-Foy, 8 November 1817 — d. at Québec City, 23 December 1870) was a Canadian artist who painted mainly portraits and religious images in 19th-century Quebec.[1]
Life
Hamel was born in 1817 in Sainte-Foy (that was a suburb of Quebec City), the son of a successful farmer. In 1834 he was already taking art lessons from Antoine Plamondon. His early portraits show a mixture of European romanticism and Canadian simplicity. His style gradually changed to match the taste of his clients for simple, honest, even prim portraits.[2]
In 1843, Hamel travelled to Europe (London, Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice, and then north to France and Belgium). For a while he attended the Accademia di San Luca, in Rome. He was very much interested in the works of the Romantics.[3]
In 1846 he returned to Canada to Quebec. Throughout his career he travelled throughout Canada East and Canada West, painting portraits of such notables as Sir John Beverley Robinson, Denis-Benjamin Viger, Sir Allan MacNab, Louis-Joseph Papineau, John Sandfield Macdonald, and Sir Étienne Taché. He worked quickly, often completing a portrait in a single day.[4]
Hamel also painted religious pictures for various commissions, and a series of "imaginative" or "semi-imaginative" portraits of Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Jean Talon, Montcalm, and General James Murray. The image of Cartier even appeared on a banknote.[5]
It is estimated that Hamel painted more than 2000 portraits during his lifetime.[6] In 1857, at age of 40, he married Mathilde-Georgiana Faribault, daughter of George-Barthélemy Faribault, a pioneer librarian. He died in Quebec City, in December 1870.[7]
Gallery
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References
- ^ Hamel, Théophile, at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
- ^ R. H. Hubbard, Antoine Plamondon / 1802-1895, Théophile Hamel / 1817-170. Two Painters of Quebec / Deux Peintres de Québec (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1970), pp. 14-34-35.
- ^ Hubbard, p. 34.
- ^ Hubbard, p. 37.
- ^ Hubbard, p. 38.
- ^ Gérard Morisset, La peinture traditionnelle au Canada français (Ottawa, 1960), p. 118.
- ^ Hubbard, p. 61.
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