Yashdip Singh Bains
As he examines staging practices in early Canadian theatres, 1765 to 1825, the author identifies scene painters and designers, including itinerant or resident professionals such as François Baillairgé, Louis Dulongpré, Richard Jones, George Godsell Thresher, William Bernard and Thomas Honey, as well as officers of the garrisons, such as Sir Joshua Jebb.
Pendant qu'il examine les méthodes de mise-en-scène du jeune théâtre canadien, de 1765 à 1825, l'auteur identifie les peintres de la scène et les dessinateurs; les professionels résidants ou mobiles comme François Baillairgé, Louis Dulongpré, Richard Jones, George Godsell Thresher, William Bernard et Thomas Honey sont y inclus; les officiers des garrisons comme Sir Joshua Jebb sont inclus aussi.
Since no examples of painted scenery and decorations for early theatres in Canada have survived, historians find it difficult to analyse how scene designers created physical environments which embodied the actor-managers' concepts of plays and yet worked in terms of the size of performance area and the needs of actors. This difficulty is compounded further by the virtual absence of descriptions of scenery in newspaper advertisements, by an almost unanimous unwillingness of reviewers to comment on stage settings, and by the paucity of biographical data about painters in Canada before 1867. Still, scholars have no alternative but to scan minutely newspapers and other sources which can be construed to shed light on the work of early scene designers. Hence, drawing upon press reviews, playbills, and notices of exhibitions of landscape and topographic paintings and panoramas, this study examines the aesthetic importance of painted scenery and decorations in productions from the beginning of regular theatrical activity in Quebec in 1765 to the opening of Theatre Royal, Montreal, late in 1825, and assesses the artistic output of scene painters for such notable actor-managers as Charles Stuart Powell, Noble Luke Usher, Addison B. Price, John Duplessis Turnbull, George Blanchard and Frederick Brown. 1 The indirect and meagre evidence indicates that productions in colonial theatres were colourful and appealing to the eye.
From this brief account of scenic design in Canadian theatres we can deduce that the crucial factors in the development of scenery from the 1760s to the opening of Montreal's Theatre Royal were a gradual increase of performance area and the installation of stage machinery; both these changes became inevitable with the growth of population and expansion of urban settlements in the Canadian provinces. The themes and artistic rendering of painted scenes were decided by the early nineteenth-century taste for landscape and topographic views and by the individual training and experience of painters. With the enlargement of stage size, designers could employ scenery for realistic effects and for a picturesque background to dramatic action. When interpreting the meaning of reviewers' epithets for scenery - 'new', 'proper', appropriate', and 'elegant' - and for theatre interiors - 'neat', 'pleasant', and commodious', one should bear in mind the relativity of their usage. What was elegant and commodious in Halifax or Montreal in the eighteenth century would be ordinary and cramped in a more densely populated city. Scenery was new in Canadian theatres because none had existed before the formation of amateur troupes. It took a company several years to accumulate their stock scenery which would be stored and displayed repeatedly. With long experience and adequate machinery, designers could synchronize acting, scenery, lighting, and costumes, by the end of 1825, and meet the standards of authenticity and correctness introduced by John Philip Kemble in London. 2
The social and aesthetic impact of painted scenery in the theatres in Canada, as in the United States, went beyond the performance area. In North America, when there were hardly any museums or galleries, the theatre satisfied popular demand for exterior scenes: 'That the theatre should contribute to, rather than take from, the gallery and bookstall is logical when theatrical art fills a void not filled by artists outside the theatre.' 3 Patrons attended a performance to see plays, to listen to music, to watch dancing, to observe costumes and decorations, as much as to appreciate painted scenery. It was for this reason that actor-managers of amateur and professional companies spent large sums of money on scenery and solemnly stressed its newness in their press notices. Thus, painted scenery formed a significant part of the total experience of an evening in the theatre, and a lasting association developed between artists and theatre managers.
But for a few exceptions like Halifax's New Grand Theatre, built by the garrison in 1789, most houses in Canada before 1820 were located in upper stories of taverns and stores and, consequently, 'no traps for Machinery could be used, and no convenience -afforded for Green-Room, Scene Room, Painting-Room, and other appendages, as necessary as the seats for the audience'. 4 Amateur and professional companies in Saint John and other towns acted on a temporary proscenium stage in a hall which measured approximately twelve hundred square feet, 5 but scholars cannot now determine how the space was divided between the front and back of the house. The room in the Pontac Inn, Halifax, which was a large wooden building of three stories surrounded by verandahs, was 'a large and commodious House', according to some patrons, 6 and others felt that 'it was small, yet, owing to the judicious arrangement of the managers, every person was conveniently accommodated.' 7 Early in 1786, William Moore and his company rented Levy Solomon's 'neat and elegant' assembly room in Montreal - 'the Whole Second Floor' for the theatre and 'as far as the third beam in the Farther part of the third Floor' for dressing rooms. 8 The amateurs in Saint John 'converted' Mallard's assembly room' into a pretty Theatre' in 1789. 9
Although local patrons thought that these halls, equipped with drop curtains, wings and shutters, were adequate for their needs, visitors from outside labelled them poor. Comments on W.H. Prigmore's theatre, which was situated on the second floor of Armstrong's tavern in Quebec City and was forty feet long by thirty wide and twenty-four feet high with a skylight, 10 will illustrate the point. John Bernard, who had performed in Quebec many times, dismissed it as 'a paltry little room of a very paltry public house, that neither in shape nor capacity merited the name of theatre.' 11 For another traveller, it was 'but a very indifferent building for scenic representations, being only the upper apartments of a tavern, with so small an entrance to the audience part of it, that in the event of fire the most dreadful consequences might ensue.' 12
Prigmore's Montreal theatre in the vicinity of St Nicholas and St Sacrement streets, completed early in 1808, got better press. It was decorated 'in a neat style, the stage is large, and whatever can contribute to the ease of the audience has not been neglected; in short, it is to the full as good as this city, in the present state of its population, requires or expects.' This reporter wished that 'the width of the building had permitted the boxes to have been thrown more open towards the stage.' 13 Another theatre-goer praised the 'neat and commodious manner in which the Theatre is fitted up.' 14 The management kept the house 'fitted up in as splendid a style as the nature of the place will admit -wax lights - and every attention to convenience will be paid.' 15
That these spaces displayed something more soothing to the eye than bare walls can be ascertained from the interiors of halls in Halifax, Charlottetown and St John's. Joseph Howe recalled how William Rufus Blake and his friends decorated 'both sides of the proscenium of an improvised amateur theatre' with the paper peeled off the walls of the abandoned Prince's Lodge, a summer cottage built for Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent. 16 In Charlottetown, 'the front of the Stage and Orchestra are neatly decorated, - the Paintings of Thalia and Melpomene, and other Emblematic Figures are placed on each side the stage; in the centre over the Stage, and in front of the Proscenium is a transparent Painting representing the figure of Fame holding a Medallion containing a likeness of the Godfather of our Island, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, with the figures of Britannia and British Lion underneath.' 17 When the naval and civilian amateurs of St John's erected a 'regular-built' theatre in the fall of 1818, they budgeted for decorations, scenery, property, lights, and scene-shifters, the expenses of which 'were entirely defrayed out of the profits of the first month's performances.' 18 In 1822, the front of this stage had been 'Decorated with Characteristic Devices and appropriate Ornaments' so that it gave 'a very pleasing effect.' 19
Statements of expenditure on scenery and decorations for Halifax, Kingston and St John's reveal that amateurs of the garrison and the town did not pinch pennies. In Halifax in 1796, the amateurs disbursed sixty-three pounds for dresses, carpentry, hair dressers, lighting and other items for a single performance at the New Grand Theatre. 20 During the years 1815 and 1816, the Kingston Amateur Society spent one thousand and thirty-eight pounds on lights, furniture, canvas and paints for scenes, musicians, artificers, and two hundred and sixty-six pounds for timber and carpenters' wages. 21 Of a total budget of three hundred and sixty pounds for thirteen performances of four mainpieces and afterpieces in the winter of 1824, the Amateur Theatre of St John's, constructed by subscription in 1822-23, paid out one hundred and ninety-six pounds for scenery, dresses and lighting. 22
In order to underline the earnestness of their enterprise, companies spoke of the newness and appropriateness of their scenery and decorations, albeit in extravagant language. Visiting Halifax in 1785, William Moore delivered his satirical lecture on heads and hearts, based on Alexander Stevens' popular 'Lecture on Heads', 'with Proper Scenery and Apparatus.' 23 For a 12 May 1786 production in Montreal, William Moore's company announced that their 'Scenery, Machinery, Music, and Decorations' were 'entirely new.' 24 About the amateurs of Saint John in 1789 the Gazette said that their 'scenes, decorations, and dresses were entirely new and in a very fine style.' 25 Six years later, an amateur troupe of the same city 'introduced a New Scene, representing Partridge Island, the Light House, &c.' 26 When Charles Stuart Powell gave his declamation on hearts at Halifax's Theatre Royal, he advertised, 'These Hearts, with their proper Emblems, will be exhibited to the Audience elegantly painted by an eminent Artist.' 27 The Halifax patrons of a pantomime, Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday, saw 'new Scenery' of Crusoe's plantation and bower, 'painted for the Occasion.' 28 For a pantomime, The Battle of the Nile, at James Ormsby's theatre in Quebec City in 1804, 'great preparations [were] required in Scenery, Dresses, Decorations, &c. for a representation of that Gallant Sea Fight.' 29 A theatre in Drury Lane, Saint John, was 'perfect in its arrangements' and equipped with a 'variety of Scenery.' 30 At the Kingston Amateur Society's 1816 productions, 'the dresses were elegant and appropriate - the scenery which had been prepared for the occasion, seemed to have been executed by the hand of an artist.' 31 An unknown artist painted the Falls of Chaudiere, near Ottawa, on a drop curtain for the Kingston group. 32 Leasing 'the entire upper part of Mr. Schofield's Mansion House' in Toronto, Talbot promised to do his best 'as respects the Concern, the Company, the Scenery, and the Wardrobe.' 33
The effectiveness of scenery in most of these theatres was severely undermined by poor lighting. Complaints about dim illumination were made in Halifax in 1818, in spite of the manager's claim that the Fairbanks Wharf Theatre, 'in addition to the former lights', was 'brilliantly furnished with Globe Lamps.' 34 After watching a performance at Montreal's New Market Theatre in 1824, a reviewer discussed the same problem:
The want of clear and sufficient light, produces a worse effect than indifferent performance. The beauties of the scene are lost, when the shadow of one of the dramatic persona obscures the figure of his, or her next neighbour; and the scenery however appropriate and elegant loses its effect, by want of light, and its injudicious distribution; this last observation is apparent, as any person acquainted with scenic effect, must have noticed the absence of taste, in the arrangement of light, intended to render visible, the sea parts of Castles, Battlements, Mountains &c. but which in fact have only assisted to obscure the artist's talents. 35
Even at a slightly better equipped
house like the Royal Circus, Quebec City, the management did not light
the stage properly, as an irate critic pointed out:
When we first entered the boxes, we supposed that the sombre appearance of the House was intended to heighten the lugubrious effect of the Tragedy; but when lamp after lamp expired, we perceived that it was occasioned by some gross negligence, or ill judged economy, and heard several persons express a wish that the proprietor, when he gives the public something worth looking at, would also indulge them with sufficient light to see what is going forward on the Stage - this was hardly the case that night. 36
One of the spectators at the Royal
Circus concurred with this criticism:
A little attention on the part of the Lamp Lighter, to cleaning the glasses, and seeing that the lamps were well filled with oil, and an expense on the part of the Proprietor of about three pounds of wax, or spermacetti candles every evening, would do much, and probably produce an adequate return, in the increased numbers of the audience. 37
Despite poor lighting and other difficulties,
scene painters persisted in their attempts to improve scenic effects and
devised drop curtains and shutters for amateur and professional groups
in Canada in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These
improvements in scene design culminated in the authentic settings of Frederick
Brown at Theatre Royal, Montreal.
The rise of the theatre in Canada in the late eighteenth century coincided with the emergence of portrait, landscape and topographic painting. A number of resident and itinerant painters inserted cards in newspapers in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and some of them became famous. J. Russell Harper elucidates the significance of five who prospered in the 1780s and whose accomplishments heralded the golden age of painting in Quebec:
François Baillairgé, an unusually successful business man, painted in Quebec after returning in 1781 from studies in Paris. Montreal had more variety since three well-known artists practised in that city: Canadian-born François Malepart de Beaucourt who had spent some years in Europe, Louis-Chrétien de Heer whose canadien 'in-laws' bickered with him constantly over his Protestant leanings, and aristocratic Louis Dulongpré who in 1794 was advertising portrait painting although he had already lived for several years in Montreal. William von Moll Berczy had moved to the city by the end of the century. These five professional artists dominated the first phase of Canadian painting in this golden age, but various itinerants and lesser men also painted during these years when portraiture was commanding special attention throughout Quebec province. 38
Malepart de Beaucourt, who 'painted
the curtains of the boxes and stage of the Grand-Theatre of Bordeaux for
2,000 livres', appears 'to have excelled particularly in decorating private
dwellings and theatres, although since his work in this field has disappeared
we cannot evaluate it.' 39
It is also not known whether Malepart de Beaucourt painted any scenery
for the theatre in Montreal. Baillairgé started painting scenery
for the Thespian Society in Quebec City in 1784 and Dulongpré for
Théâtre de Société in Montreal in 1789.
A man of culture and artistic vocation, Baillairgé drew historical pictures and made figures in relief for churches, painted portraits in oil and in miniature on ivory; he gave lessons in drawing and water colour painting. 40 He taught 'Drawing Plans, Civil Architecture, Perspectives and Landscapes, Flowers, and Human Figures, with true Proportion and Anatomical Principles, giving at same time the Geometrical Rules necessary for those sciences.' 41 As Harper has noted, 'Baillairgé's decorations for the Quebec Theatre, finished between 1784 and 1796, were presumably rococo carvings and paintings, but the building has long since disappeared .' 42 Jean Bruchési describes his theatrical interests:
Quand il ne reçoit ni ne visite ses amis, c'est avec eux qu'il va voir jouer, au 'Théâtre de Québec,' rue Saint-Louis, le Cid ou les Fourberies de Scapin, assiste à un spectacle de marionnettes ou à un concert. A l'occasion, il peint des décors, fait des maquettes on des poupées. De là, peut-être, le goût qu'il prend au théâtre et la tentation, à laquelle il cède parfois, de tenire un rôle dans quelque comédie, après s'être même hasardé a lire, pour le public de camarades et d'arnis, un prologue de sa composition. 43
Dulongpré played a key role
in the organization of Théâtre de Société in
Montreal. The theatre itself was established in a room in his house on
the Grand Parade. On 11 November 1789, Jean Guillaum De Lisle, notary;
drafted a contract between Dulongpré and Joseph Quesnel and other
members of the amateur club, which gives a few details of painted scenery
for the theatre. The participants agreed that Dulongpré would prepare
for the club 'trois décorations complettes, peintes sur toile, l'exception
des coulisses d'une décoration qui quoiqu'en papier représentant
des arbres seront comprises dans les trois cy-mentionnées'; these
three scenes represented 'une chambre, un bois et une rue, avec le grand
rideau.' 44
Like Baillairgé and other artists, Dulongpré taught painting;
he also taught dancing, singing, and the harpsichord.
Nova Scotia did not keep pace with Quebec in the arts of drawing and painting, but she surpassed the rest of the country in theatrical facilities when the garrison built the New Grand Theatre in Halifax in 1789. Reviewers often showed appreciation for the work of the amateurs by remarking that 'the scenery and machinery were completely new, and had a very pleasing effect; much taste discovered in the drapery of the Celestials.' 45 Soon after taking over the management of this enterprise in the fall of 1797, Charles Stuart Powell renovated the building: 'The late alterations and additions to the Stage, permitting full scope for working the necessary Machinery, it is intended in the opening Scene of the Play to represent the Novel Sight of a Ship in Distress, etc. stranded on the Coast.' 46
The execution of scenic displays in Canadian theatres reached a higher standard when Noble Allport of Covent Garden joined Noble Luke Usher's company in Quebec City and Montreal; Allport was assisted by Richard Jones, an actor and scene painter. 47 Before the resumption of a new season in Montreal on 16 December 1808, Allport had assumed 'the management of the painting department, and the house is to be entirely repainted, with new scenery, and fitted up in a manner that will no doubt give general satisfaction.' 48 Similarly, the house in Quebec City had 'been much improved and the Scenery entirely new (painted by Mr. Allport) and considerable additions have been made to the Wardrobe.' 49 The artist provided 'a New Garden Scene' for Rowe's Jane Shore on 26 February 1810. 50 A year later, a 'transparent Scene' (made visible by means of a light behind) by the same hand was 'highly spoken of by the performers.' 51
In 1816, five years after the departure of Allport, the amateurs of Quebec City exhibited 'a brilliant Transparency', made by George Godsell Thresher, at their theatre. 52 Thresher and his wife had conducted an academy for drawing in crayon and chalk and for painting in water colours and oils in Montreal in 1816, moved to Halifax in 1821, and finally settled in Charlottetown in 1829. 53
The small size of the stage in Canadian theatres, prior to the construction of Montreal's Theatre Royal in 1825, hampered the plans of scene painters to produce proper aesthetic effects. Reviewers of Addison B. Price's company, for example, at Halifax's Fairbanks Wharf Theatre from 1816 to 1820, discussed the attempts of Thompson, Henry Charnock, Kirby and McMillan to adapt scenery to an inadequate stage. During the staging of Theodore Hook's spectacle drama, Tekeli; or, The Siege of Montgatz, 'the scenery, notwithstanding the obvious disadvantages of the House, was uncommonly good, particularly the representation of the Fortress and the two Mills.' 54 The playbill for Tekeli in Saint John on 17 September 1817 informed the patrons that the incidents of the second act were 'so interwoven with the disposition of the Scenery as to render the illusion as strong or stronger than any other piece in Dramatic representation.' 55 The company also mounted George Colman the Younger's Forty Thieves: 'Its principal merit appears to depend on the scenery, which was very good, and the Company are entitled to much credit for getting it up in such handsome style, notwithstanding the great disadvantages under which they labour, from the want of sufficient Stage room.' 56 These spectacles created a feast for the eye and were intended to be looked at rather than heard.
Price and his company enacted 'a storm & Shipwreck, Ariel Firing the Ship', in the second act of a revised version of Shakespeare's The Tempest; or, The Enchanted Island. 57 They staged Lewis' Timour the Tartar 'with real horses' and promised the patrons an impressive spectacle in the tradition of Astley's equestrian shows: 'The last scene will exceed in splendour anything yet exhibited upon the Stage, and between the Play and Farce will be displayed a grand Transparency of the Sea Serpent, which has recently attracted the attention of the curious, and proved a matter of astonishment to all the world.' 58 When the company travelled to Saint John in 1817, they portrayed, in the second act of Egville's Alexander the Great, 'The triumphal entry of Alexander into Babylon, drawn by Black Slaves in A Golden Chariot, with appropriate music, and Grand Chorus of 'See the Conquering Hero Comes'.' 59 In their Macbeth on 22 September 1817, the company highlighted 'the Incantation of the Witches around the Burning Cauldron', the 'procession of eight future Kings of Scotland', and 'the completion of the Prophecy of the Witches, with the Defeat and Fall of the Tyrant.' 60 In spite of these costly efforts, the company could not surmount the basic difficulty. As a reviewer of The Tempest explained, 'the extent of the stage does not admit of the Scenery being judiciously arranged, and consequently a greater degree of improbability occurs to the minds of the audience than what flows from the incidents of the piece.' 61 While stressing the small size of the stage, one should recognize that Price could not get scenery painted for every play; often, his scenery was 'very limited' and 'destroyed the effect of a good representation.' 62
Just as Price and his painters and mechanics were struggling in Halifax to paint scenes as backgrounds for the words and action of a play, John D. Turnbull and his crew were contending with the same problem in Montreal. Unlike Price, though, Turnbull had the advantage of a larger structure, eighty feet by fifty, and was assisted by the skills of one of the most experienced scene designers in North America, the seventy-three-year old John Milbourne. 63 Turnbull inaugurated his New Montreal Theatre with a drop scene 'representing an exact view of Dunbarton Castle on the Clyde.' 64 He produced Macbeth with 'new Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations; together with the original Music, Incantations, Songs and new choruses composed by Locke.' 65 In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience saw 'the Grand Funeral Procession of Juliet to the Vault of her Ancestors, with the Original Dirge.' 66 In the fall of 1818, the theatre had 'been refitted and painted in superior style by Mr. Milbourne and assistants.' 67 Turnbull produced The Forty Thieves 'at much expence, and the scenery, decorations, &c. gave flattering testimony to the professional abilities of Messrs. Milbourne & Honey, for whose benefit it was brought forward.' 68 Still, realistic stage effects often eluded the manager. 'A violent snow storm' in F. Reynolds' The Exile of Siberia; or, The Russian Daughter did not convince anyone: '. . . his scanty fall of cut paper was a total violation of "the cunning of the scene" - seemed rather bits of plastering shaken from the ceiling - and would not have passed for "a snow storm" in the West Indies, much less in Canada at this season.' 69
Turnbull and his contemporaries understood the popularity of the romantic exterior scenes of deep woods, bald mountain peaks, rushing cataracts, and mysterious caverns and used them as background for plays: 'In the theatre, as well as in the gallery and exhibition hall, displays of land and waterscapes, especially when the subject was recognized, drew the approbation of all.' 70 Landscape painters and panoramists occasionally toured colonial towns, and local artists sometimes painted street scenes of Montreal and other cities. In 1799, a boy of sixteen made 'Two Engravings in Aqua Tinto, comprehending the East and North-West views of Montreal.' 71 Henry Aston Barker, a British panoramist, exhibited 'a faithful representation of the Glorious attack and success of His Majesty's arms upon Algiers' at the new building near McCallum's Brewery, St Charles Street, Lower Town, Quebec City; the size of the painting was 164 feet by 19 feet. 72 He also showed his 'Panorama Painting of the Battle of Waterloo' in Montreal and Quebec City: 'On the entrance of the platform, your eye is caught with a full view of the Duke of Wellington and retinue.... The Dome of Waterloo Church and the village of Mount Saint Jean is peculiarly striking.' 73 A French showman, who toured North America with his Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre' which consisted of 'views with mechanical props', 74 Ardenond displayed some of the popular views at the Amateur Theatre, Halifax, in 1819:
An accurate representation of the Funeral Procession of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, as it left Claremont for Windsor.
A view of the Cape of Good Hope.
A view in Holland comprising the Hague.
A view of a Storm at Sea. 75
Turnbull prepared landscape scenes
to embellish his production of The Exile of Siberia, which 'possesses
too few incidents of dramatic acumen to excite the feeling of an audience.
All, however, that scenery could effect, was done and reflects no small
credit on the artists.' 76
The artists in this case were John D. Turnbull and Thomas Honey who painted
seven landscapes which were realistic to the extent that they presented
specific Russian scenes. Three of these scenes were:
In Act 1st, Scene lst. A view in Siberia, representing a wild Mountainous Country, on one side the Hut of Count Ulrick, the Exile. In the distance are Stupendous Glaciers, and a natural Bridge over a Cataract. The whole covered with snow. Painted by Mr Turnbull. Scene 2nd. An open country covered with Snow - with a distant view of Tobolskoy, the Capital of Siberia, Painted by Mr Honey.
Act 2nd, Scene 3rd. Part of the Grand Square at Moscow - on one side is seen the west entrance of the Kremlin, over which appears the column erected by Peter the Great, to commemorate his victory over the Swedes surmounted by the Russian Arms. On the other side a front view of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Nicholas. Painted by Mr Turnbull. 77
The New Montreal Theatre burnt down
in 1820, and a number of theatres took its place: Roy's New Building in
Place Jacques Cartier in 1822-25, West and Blanchard's Circus in 1824,
and Pavilion Theatre in Notre Dame Street in 1825. The reviewers who visited
Turnbull's New Market Theatre in Roy's building could not 'but give en
passant a word in favour of the neatness of the new arrangement of
the Theatre, and the beauty of the Scenery.' 78
The scenery had been 'well
got up, apparently all newly painted,
and well proportioned to the size of the place. The drop-scene, representing
a rich landscape in Switzerland, is uncommonly well done.' 79
One of the memorable spectacles on these boards was 'a violent Tempest,
Sea and Clouds in Motion, Shipwreck of Bertram and his Crew', in the first
act of Maturin's Bertram. 80
This scene, stated a reviewer, 'was really beautiful, and far surpassing
anything which we expected to witness in so small a Theatre; but it would
(in our opinion) have had a better effect, if less light had been thrown
upon it from the wings.' 81
'Neat, pleasant, and capacious', the Pavillion Theatre was equipped with machinery which was 'the work of the most ingenious machinists, and the Decorations and Paintings are by the most distinguished artists of Europe.' 82 The scenery 'of the beautiful Bay of Naples (across which several ships glided in full sail, firing salutes to the Forts) was picturesque and true to nature. Mount Vesuvius threw forth several Volumes of Fire.' 83 On 11 April 1825, when the English amateurs acted Barbarossa, the costumes 'were splendid and appropriate, and showed a very judicious attention to the unity of effect', and the last scene, 'in which the tyrant's castle is blown up, was beautiful and does much credit to the Artist's skill.' 84
Turnbull and other actor-managers had concentrated primarily on legitimate drama. The Blanchard family, on the other hand, favoured a popular type of entertainment - a combination of equestrian and dramatic shows - for which they built the Circus in Montreal and the Royal Circus in Quebec City. Unable to compete with the Circus in Montreal, Turnbull closed his operation and accepted a job in Blanchard's company, for which he staged a melodrama, Love and War; or, The Foundling of the Danube, 'for the introduction of equestrian feats on the stage in performing it.' 85
Equestrian and dramatic spectacles at the Royal Circus became favourites of the audiences in Quebec City. The house itself was 'spacious and pretty well decorated; the scenery is very good and altogether these gentlemen deserve the encouragement they obtain, which we are told they found to surpass their expectations.' 86 In his presentations, Blanchard accentuated further the equestrian element in pieces like Tekeli and Timour the Tartar, which had already been produced with horses. In the staging of Tekeli, 'neither pains nor expense had evidently been spared.' The Scenic Department of the Royal Circus 'was, on this occasion, particularly well conducted, and evinced the professional skills of Messrs. Honey and Triault.' Horses were brought on stage in two of the principal scenes: 'Much as the supporters of the legitimate Drama may decry the appearance of these Quadruped Actors as a radical innovation, we must admit that they create an imposing hustle and add to the spirit of the scene.' 87
Blanchard made an enormous box-office hit with Timour the Tartar, 'the most splendid spectacle which the proprietors of this establishment have yet brought out.' The horses 'outdid their former outdoings': 'In the scene of the Lists in which Kirem's charger dies, the docility of the animal was astonishing, and in the last scene in which another grey charger attempts to scale the wall, the high training of these animals was equally apparent and wonderful.' The scenery 'could not for its excellence be surpassed on any stage of the same dimensions; that of the Cataracts was peculiarly striking. The audience was perfectly astonished at the manner in which the horses dashed through the artificial water and ascended the precipices.' The costumes were 'particularly good, and correct, the reality of the scene in no instance suffered from that mixture of incongruous habits we have sometimes witnessed.' 88
The theatre-goers of Montreal realized their long-awaited goal of a properly equipped house when Theatre Royal opened its doors to the public on 21 November 1825. Its interior was furnished 'in a style of elegance and comfort not to be surpassed by any Theatre on this side the Atlantic.' 89 Frederick Brown, the manager and principal actor, assembled a team of artists for scenery and ornamental painting. Headed by John Poad Drake, a student of the Royal Academy in London, this group included William Bernard from Albany, New York, and Thomas Honey who had worked for John D. Turnbull. Designed by Bernard, the machinery of the stage was executed by Johnson, Fielder and assistants. 90 Drake painted a drop scene - 'A view of the Ruins of Athens, with a bronze statue of a man in a Roman costume on the base of a broken column.' 91 On the opening night, 'the scenery was extremely good, indeed splendid.' 92 In the words of another commentator, 'The scenery throughout was entirely new, and displayed considerable taste and art.' 93
A brother-in-law to Charles Kemble, Brown derived his stage business generally from John Philip Kemble and strove for antiquarian correctness and authenticity. Brown made scene design an integral part of the action on stage and created visual splendour through processions and triumphal entries. In Act I of Barrymore's Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, given on St Andrew's day, the manager reproduced 'The Triumphal Entry of Wallace into Stirling. Standard-bearers, with the Cross of St. Andrew, and the Thistle of Scotland; the Chieftains, each of whom is preceded by his particular banner; and lastly, Wallace, who is surrounded by military ensigns.' In Act V took place 'The Execution of Wallace': 'The Scaffold occupies the centre of the Stage, on which is seen the Executioner with his Axe, the Block, surrounded by Officers, Guards, &c. &c.' 94
The grandest of these spectacles was Shakespeare's Coriolanus, in which J.P. Kemble had taken leave of the stage on 23 June 1817. Brown presented it 'with a splendour and accuracy which could never have been expected, especially in an establishment so recently organized.' The dresses and scenery 'were elegant and costly; especially in the scenes where Coriolanus received the deputation of Roman matrons, which was very gorgeous and tasteful; the triumphal procession was most imposing, in number, costume and scenic effect - the standards designed with unusual elegance.' The audience was overwhelmed by the 'constant glitter' of the scene and 'by the appearance of a theatrical corps so numerous that, we believe, the public had previously had a very inadequate idea of its strength.' 95 In Act II, the triumphal entry of Coriolanus into Rome was attended by 'lictors, soldiers with spoils, Priests, Virgins, Roman Ladies.' 96
In this outline of the progress of scenic design from the 1760s to 1825, the topographic painters of the British garrisons deserve a special place, for they volunteered their services to theatrical groups from St John's to Toronto. Every British officer 'had to try his hand at water-colour painting to acquire "a certificate of diligence from the Drawing Master" at the officers' training academies such as the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where the acknowledged father of English water-colour painting, Paul Sandby, was once a drawing master.' 97 Some of the leading military topographers in Canada in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, whose paintings of local scenes have survived, were Thomas Davies, James Peachey, George Heriot, Joseph Bouchette, James Pattison Cockburn, and John G. Toler, and it is most likely that some of them painted scenes for the theatre, even though their identity cannot be established. 98 A Halifax critic characterized thus their contribution to theatre scenery: 'In every garrison, a certain number of proficients in the fine arts are assembled; and when their resources are summoned into action, they afford surprising instances of their versatility and skill.' 99 The scenery for Quebec City's Garrison Amateur Theatrical Club in 1818-19 was 'painted by Captain the present Sir Joshua Jebb, in first-rate style, and our properties [were] of the very best description.' 100 An amateur production of the garrison in Halifax in 1825 'was adorned with a great display of new and appropriate scenery - and one in particular representing a water view with the moon shining over it, "with her silvery beams reflected on its bosom," was beautiful in the extreme; and has been remarked by everyone as new proof of the varied talents which are to be found in a garrison of British Officers.' 101
The managers of theatres in various Canadian towns made an effort to save the scenery which passed hands from one company to the next when it was included with the sale of theatres. For instance, the proprietor of the Patagonian Theatre, Quebec City, intended to dispose of the scenery, decorations and wardrobe, along with the building, in 1805. 102 Similarly, the theatre in Drury Lane, Saint John, went up for sale on 10 July 1816, 'together with valuable wardrobe and scenery.' 103 Some of the amateur troupes either sold their properties or made them available to any person who wished to use them for a play. The amateurs of Kingston auctioned off their properties and donated the proceeds to the Female Benevolent Society for the benefit of the indigent sick. 104 A committee of the amateurs in St John's resolved in 1819 'to assign the Scenery, Dresses & Stock of the Theatre to such Gentlemen as may hereafter devote their talents to the amusement of the public and in aid of the charitable institutions of this town.' 105 In a majority of cases, managers and actors used the scenery repeatedly, but some of them let it deteriorate. Planning to stage a play in 1823 in Charlottetown, one of the actors discovered that 'there was no curtain, scenes, or lamps. The scenery was rotten or taken away, and as the work progressed everything was found so defective that all required renewing afresh, even to the seats.' 106
With this inexhaustible energy to renew everything afresh, scene painters worked and re-worked old canvases and created others to suit new plays. They tutored Canadian audiences to prize their local prospects and prepared them to appreciate the art of regional water colourists and oil painters. Scenic designs, like promptbooks, playbills, costumes, are the only tangible evidence of that most ephemeral act - the performance of a play, but they must also share in its evanescence. As more diaries, journals, contracts, letters and records come to light, theatre historians may retrieve the data which will enable them to reconstruct the theatrical experiences which delighted Canadian audiences in the nineteenth century. 107
NotesPAINTED SCENERY AND DECORATIONS IN CANADIAN THEATRES, 1765-1825
Yashdip Singh Bains
1 C.S. Powell managed Halifax's
Theatre Royal (first called the New Grand), 1797-1810; Noble Luke Usher
played in Montreal and Quebec City in 1808-10; Addison B Price conducted
Fairbanks Wharf Theatre, Halifax, 1816-19; John D. Turnbull operated the
New Montreal Theatre, 1818-20, and the New Market Theatre, 1824; George
Blanchard and his family constructed and managed the Circus in Montreal
and the Royal Circus in Quebec City in the 1820s; Frederick Brown was the
first manager of Theatre Royal, Montreal, 1825-26.
Return to article
2 CHARLES B. HOGAN, The
London Stage 1776-1800: A Critical Introduction Carbondale & Edwardsville:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1968, p lxiv
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3 JOHN R. WOLCOTT, 'Scene
Painters and Their Work in America before 1800', Theatre Survey, 18
(May 1977), p 71
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4 Montreal Gazette 13
May 1816
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5 The dimensions of the
dancing assembly room in McPherson's Exchange Coffee House, Saint John,
were 50 feet by 25 feet or 1,250 square feet (Saint John Gazette 20
March 1789).
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6 Nova Scotia Gazette
11
August 1768
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7 Quebec Herald and
Universal Miscellany 2-9 February 1789
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8 JOHN GERBAND BEEK, Notary,
Index, 7 March 1786, #157, National Archives of Quebec, Montreal
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9 Saint John Gazette
27
March 1789
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10 Quebec Mercury
23 June 1838
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11 Retrospections of
America 1797-1811, ed. Bayle Bernard New York: Harper, 1887, p 363
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12 JEREMY COCKLOFT, Cursory
Observations made in Quebec in the Year 1811 n.d.; reprinted Toronto:
Oxford, University Press, 1960, p 32
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13 Canadian Gazette
14
January 1808
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14 Montreal Gazette
11
January 1808
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15 Ibid 10 July
1809
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16 GEORGE FENETY, The
Life and Times of Joseph Howe Saint John: Carter, 1896, pp 86-87
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17 Prince Edward Island
Gazette 26 November 1817
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18 WILLIAM NUGENT GLASCOCK,
Naval
Sketch Book, 2 vols. London: Colburn, 1826, II, p 173
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19 Mercantile Journal
7
February 1822
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20 Royal Gazette &
Nova Scotia Advertiser 2 February 1796
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21 Kingston Chronicle
22
December 1820
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22 Mercantile Journal
10
August 1826
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23 Nova Scotia Gazette
& Weekly Chronicle 31 May 1785
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24 Montreal Gazette
11
May 1786
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25 Saint John Gazette
27
March 1789
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26 Royal Gazette and
New Brunswick Advertiser (Saint John) 7 April 1795
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27 Royal Gazette &
Nova Scotia Advertiser 7 November 1797
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28 Ibid 14 August
1798
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29 Quebec Gazette 2
August 1804
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30 Royal Gazette (Saint
John) 6 February 1809
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31 Kingston Gazette
20
April 1816
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32 Ibid 27 April
1816
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33 Upper Canada Gazette
4
November 1824
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34 Free Press (Halifax)
27 October 1818
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35 Canadian Courant
1
September 1824
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36 Quebec Gazette 29
December 1825
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37 Quebec Mercury 31
December 1825
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38 Painting in Canada:
A History Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966, p 53
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39 Dictionary of Canadian
Biography IV, pp 507-08
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40 Quebec Gazette 30
October 1783. For a biographical note on Baillairgé, see J. RUSSELL
HARPER, Early Painters and Engravers in Canada Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1970, pp 13-14.
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41 Quebec Gazette 26
November 1789
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42 Painting in Canada
p
64
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43 'Le "journal" de François
Baillairgé,' Témoignages d'Hier Montreal: Fides, 1961,
p 89
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44 Reprinted in E.Z MASSICOTTE,
'Un Théâtre à Montreal en 1789,' Bulletin des récherches
historiques 23 (1917), pp 191-92. See Early Painters pp 96-97
for a biographical note on Dulongpré.
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45 Halifax Journal
26
February 1795
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46 Royal Gazette &
Nova Scotia Advertiser 20 March 1798
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47 For a discussion of
the first native scenic artists of the United States, see JOHN R. WOLCOTT,
'Apprentices in the Scene Room: Toward on Amercian Tradition in Scene Painting,'
Nineteenth
Century Theatre Research 4 (Spring 1876), pp 23-39.
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48 Montreal Gazette
5
December 1808
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49 Quebec Gazette 28
September 1809
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50 Montreal Gazette
26
February 1810
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51 Quebec Mercury 12
August 1811
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52 Quebec Telegraph
1
June 1816
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53 See Early Painters
p 309 for a biographical note on George Godsell Thresher.
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54 Free Press 18
February 1817
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55 New Brunswick Museum
Programme Collection
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56 Free Press 20
May 1817
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57 Harvard Theatre Collection
Playbill for 18 December 1818
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58 Weekly Chronicle
(Halifax)
11 September 1818
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59 City Gazette (Saint
John) 10 September 1817
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60 New Brunswick Courier
20
September 1817
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61 Acadian Recorder
(Halifax)
31 May 1817. For a history of the Victorian penchant for lavishness in
scenic effect, see MICHAEL R. BOOTH, 'Spectacle as Production Style on
the Victorian Stage,' Theatre Quarterly 8, 32 (1979) pp 8-20.
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62 Acadian Recorder
28
June 1817
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63 Obituary, Quebec
Gazette
(13
October 1823): 'Died at Montreal on the 9th inst. in the 78th year of his
age Mr. Milbourne, In the early part of his life he was a Scene Painter
at Covent Garden Theatre, where he studied under the celebrated Lutherburgh.
He emigrated to the U. States in 1792, where he remained until 1818, when
he arrived in this city. He was a perfect master of his art, and had a
peculiar faculty in delineation of perspective views, particularly Architectural.
He was justly esteemed as being the original from whom the present Scene
Painters in the United States have derived their principal knowledge in
the business which they follow.' On Milbourne's career, see 'Scene Painters
and Their Work,' pp 69-72, and Early Painters p 223.
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64 Montreal Herald
24
January 1818
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65 Ibid 2 May 1818
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66 Ibid 9 May 1818
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67 Ibid 17 October
1818
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68 Canadian Courant
21
April 1819
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69 Ibid 25 December
1819
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70 'Scene Painters and
Their Work,' p 58. On the romantic fashion in scene design, see RICHARD
MOODY, America Takes the Stage: Romanticism in American Drama and Theatre,
1750-1900 Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955, pp 205-33.
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71 Quebec Gazette 5
September 1799. For reproductions of artistic renderings of Canadian scenes,
see Canadian Landscape Painting 1670-1930, text and catalogue by
R.H. HUBBARD Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973 and Painters
in a New Land: From Annapolis Royal to the Klondike, ed. MICHAEL BELL
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973.
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72 Quebec Gazette 12
February 1818
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73 Montreal Herald
14
February 1818. See Early Painters, p 16 for a biographical note
on Barker.
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74 GEORGE C. GROCE &
DAVID H. WALLACE, The New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists
in America 1564-1860 New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957, p 12
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75 Weekly Chronicle
8
October 1819
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76 Canadian Courant
25
December 1819
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77 Ibid 22 December
1819
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78 Canadian Times 13
February 1824
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79 Montreal Gazette
14
April 1824
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80 Ibid
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81 Canadian Courant
21
April 1824
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82 Ibid 17 November
1824
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83 Canadian Spectator
22
January 1825
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84 Ibid 13 April
1825
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85 Montreal Gazette
10
July 1824
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86 Quebec Gazette 2
December 1824
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87 Quebec Mercury 8
January 182 5
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88 Ibid 5 February
1825
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89 Montreal Gazette
24
September 1825. See OWEN KLEIN, 'The Opening of Montreal's Theatre Royal,
1825,' Theatre History in Canada/Histoire du Théâtre au
Canada, 1 (Spring 1980) pp 24-38.
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90 Montreal Herald
19
November 1825; Early Painters pp 93-94
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91 Canadian Courant
23
November 1825
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92 Canadian Spectator
23
November 1825
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93 Montreal Herald
23
November 1825
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94 Ibid 30 November
1825
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95 Canadian Courant
21
December 1825
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96 Montreal Gazette
17
December 1825
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97 Painters in a New
Land p11
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98 For a discussion of
the artistic output of these painters, see Painting in Canada pp
41-51,
Painters in a New Land and R.H. HUBBARD, Thomas Davies
Ottawa:
Oberon Press, 1972.
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99 Acadian Recorder,
30
March 1822
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100 LORD WILLIAM PITT
LENNOX, Fifty Years' Biographical Reminiscences, 2 vols. London:
Hurst & Blackett, 1863, 11, 104
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101 Novascotian
13 April 1825
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102 Quebec Gazette
4
April 1805
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103 City Gazette 10
July 1816
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104 Kingston Chronicle
22
December 1820
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105 Mercantile Journal
30
August 1819
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106 Prince Edward
Island Register 27 September 1823
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107 The research on Montreal
for this study was supported, in part, by a grant from the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada and on St John's by one from
the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society.
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