Death And Life

The British artist George Romney painted Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) in 1776. The Mohawk leader traveled to London at the time and would wind up becoming a thorn in the side to the Americans during the Revolution, coming into Canada afterwards with his people. It is different from the William Berczy portrait of Brant that I showed you earlier in this series.

River Landscape With Cattle Watering And Ferry Boat is an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough. done around 1754-56 after he had returned to his native Suffolk from time spent in London. It is an imagined landscape, but does evoke his surroundings.

The Death Of General Wolfe is a dramatic, large oil painting from 1770 by the American artist Benjamin West. This is the original and primary version of the painting (there are at least four others West made based on this, including at the ROM in Toronto, one in Michigan and two in Britain at Suffolk and in the Royal collection). It depicts the last moments of the British general James Wolfe after being wounded at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City. This was a pivotal part of the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War as it's also called. West gives the fallen general a Christ-like depiction as he is surrounded by officers, soldiers, militia, and even an indigenous warrior. West deliberately paid attention to detail in regards to weapons and uniforms, going against the grain of artists at the time which was to depict them in classical attire. The painting made his reputation as an artist. 

From death to life- my favourite sculpture in the Gallery. Canova's Dancer is a life sized marble dancer on a pedestal, the second version of the sculpture. She stands down at the far end of this particular gallery space, and she makes an irresistible photo subject, looking lively and in mid-step.