Cornelius Krieghoff

Vocation

Canadian painter of the 19th century. Krieghoff is most famous for his paintings of Canadian landscapes and Canadian life outdoors, which were sought-after in his own time as they are today. He is particularly famous for his winter scenes, some of which he painted in a number of variants (e.g. Running the Toll). Dutch-born, he moved to New York in 1836, and enlisted in the United States Army in 1837. While in the army, he made sketches of the Second Seminole War from which he later produced oil paintings. He was discharged from the army on May 5, 1840. Together with his wife Émilie Gauthier, he moved to Montreal around 1846. He participated in the Salon de la Société des Artistes de Montréal. While in Montreal, he befriended the Mohawks living on the Kahnawake Indian Reservation and made many sketches of them from which he later produced oil paintings. Krieghoff traveled to Paris in 1844, where he copied masterpieces at the Louvre under the direction of Michel Martin Drolling (1789–1851). The Krieghoffs returned to Montreal in 1846, and in 1847 he was invited to participate in the first exhibition of the Toronto Society of Arts. He and his family moved to Quebec City in 1853. He returned to Europe in 1854, visiting Italy and Germany. In 1855, he returned to Canada. He lived in Europe from 1863 to 1868 and then moved to Chicago to retire. He died in Chicago on March 8, 1872 at the age of 56. A decade later, on June 8, 1881, the Great Quebec Fire destroyed many of his sketches, then owned by John S. Budden, who had lived with the artist for thirteen years. Link to Wikipedia biography