Robert Harris

Born in Wales, Harris came to Prince Edward Island in 1856. Beginning his studies in Charlottetown, he continued them in Boston, London, Paris and Rome, before returning to Canada where he enjoyed a long and distinguished career as painter and teacher. He was an original member of the Royal Academy of Canada, and its president from 1890 to 1903. One of Canada’s leading portrait painters, he is best known for his painting of the Fathers of Confederation but produced many other works, conservative and academic, which reflect the taste of his age. He died at Montreal.

Gallois de naissance, dont les parents émigrèrent à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard en 1856, Harris étudia à Boston, Londres, Paris et Rome. Ses activités administratives et pédagogiques au sein des associations artistiques, surtout sa présidence de l’Académie Royale du Canada (1890-1903) et sa contribution à l’épanouissement de l’art canadien, lui valurent le titre de compagnon de l’ordre de St-Michel et St-Georges. Surtout connu par son tableau des Pères de la Confédération, il fut aussi le portraitiste des personnalités qui, comme l’artiste et l’oeuvre, témoignent des tendances culturelles de son époque. Il mourut à Montréal.