Expanding Horizons

 Picking up where I left off yesterday, here we have The Chaudiere by Cornelius Krieghoff, an 1858 painting that depicts a mighty waterfall on the Ottawa River not too far upstream from the National Gallery. I'll have to get over there in late April or early May to see if I can get views of the falls in spring conditions. They look different now- there's a ring dam regulating the flow- but some of the features in the painting can still be seen today.

More waterfalls by Krieghoff. The Passing Storm, Saint-Ferreol is an 1854 work, while The Saint Anne Falls dates to 1855.

Back into the main galleries, more examples of silver.

Two paintings hang side by side, partially sharing a title. They are 1840 paintings by Robert C. Todd. This one is The Timber And Shipbuilding Yards Of Allan Gilmour at Wolfe's Cove, Quebec, Viewed From The West.

Its counterpart shows the same place, with the different subtitle Viewed From The South.

A striking portrait, Josephte Ourne is by Joseph Legare, and dates around 1840, depicting a daughter of an indigenous chief.

Paul Kane went out west, and his sketches were later transferred to vivid canvases. Here we have Fort Garry and St. Boniface, where today Winnipeg exists. This dates circa 1851-56.

Another work by Kane, this is Big Snake, Chief Of The Blackfoot Indians, Recounting His War Exploits To Five Subordinate Chiefs, also from the same period.

White Horse Inn

 We start today with Eustache-Ignace Trottier Called Desrivieres Beaubien, a 1792 portrait by Francois Beaucourt.

More examples of Canadian silver work.

Here we have a caribou coat, by an artist of the Naskapi tribe.

This dramatic work is Cholera Plague, Quebec, a circa 1832 painting by Joseph Legare.

Here is Dominick Daly O'Meara, by Theophile Hamel, circa 1847.

Another work by Hamel, here we have Henriette Massue Le Moine, an 1854 portrait. I find her intriguing.

And another Hamel portrait. Jean-Louis Beaudry dates to around 1855.

Cornelius Krieghoff took a great interest in rural life in Canada, and it showed in his work. This is White Horse Inn By Moonlight, an 1851 oil painting.

Expressions

 More today from inside the beautiful Rideau Chapel.

Two sculptures stand side by side in the main gallery spaces, by the same artist, Francois Baillairge, dating to 1797. The Virgin and Saint John were made for a Quebec parish at the time.

This altarpiece is The Baptism of Christ, dated to 1832-37, by Francois Fournier.

Here we have a portrait. Francois Baillairge painted Marie Louise Renee de Charnay, Co-Seigneur Of Kamouraska around 1800-02.

Here we have The Woolsey Family, an 1809 work by William Berczy,

Another work by Berczy, this is John Mackenzie, circa 1811.

A long standing tradition grew in Canada throughout this period in the art of silversmithing, and the National Gallery has a large collection of silver pieces. Here are some of them.

The Chapel

 Starting off today, another look at the garden inside the courtyard.

My path led me to a neighbouring space. The Rideau Chapel is inside. This chapel was preserved and recreated here after the convent it was in was demolished. It is a work of art in and of itself. And it contains something unusual- the Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff, a circle of speakers that creates a sound sculpture.

The chapel is a delight to the eyes. Speakers are strategically spaced through the room. Each has a single voice of a recorded choir singing a work of sacred music. If you stand near one, you hear that distinct voice standing out among the rest. If you sit in the middle of the room, you hear all of them at once. It is an invisible sculpture, but one that you can feel. The effect is one of profound peacefulness, entirely appropriate for this setting.