James Duncan (artist)
Canadian artist (1806–1881) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James D. Duncan (1806 – September 28, 1881), the first Irish artist to emigrate to Lower Canada,[1] is best known as a prolific watercolorist, but he was also a painter in oils, made the first tint-stone lithographs published in Canada, took photographs and created designs for coinage and ornamental printing. He was a painstaking teacher of drawing in several institutions as well as giving private lessons.[2][3]
James Duncan | |
---|---|
Born | James D. Duncan 1806 (1806) Coleraine, Ireland |
Died | September 28, 1881(1881-09-28) (aged 74–75) Montreal, Quebec |
Known for | painter, lithographer, and teacher |
Spouse | Caroline Benedict Power (m. 1834) |
He is considered the major chronicler of early Montreal over several decades, particularly for his picturesque topographical views with their accurately recorded architectural detail as in his Montreal from the Mountain (before 1854, McCord Museum).
His genre scenes of Montreal recorded sporting events, parades, fires, market vendors, sleighing and ice-cutting, among other subjects such as his Ice Pile, Montreal, in the Peter Winkworth Collection of the Library and Archives Canada.[2][3]
His watercolors were used as illustrations in magazines and his work was exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, England. He also painted Canadian political and social events and portraits.[2]