Robert Harris
Canadian, 1849–1919
Robert Harris is best known for his work The Fathers of Confederation. Welsh-born, he came to Canada with his family and grew up on Prince Edward Island with dreams of being an artist. He was sent to Boston to study painting and financed his studies by painting portraits. He later studied in Europe where he learned to paint landscapes in the French Impressionist style. Upon his return to Canada he settled in Montreal.
In 1883 Harris was chosen to produce a painting illustrating the 1864 conference in Quebec which led to Confederation. The painting made him one of the most well known portrait artists in Canada at the time. The Confederation painting was hung in the Ottawa Parliament buildings and was, unfortunately, destroyed by a fire in 1916.
Submitted by Arctic Experience McNaught Gallery
