Charlotte Mount Brock Morrell Schreiber

Charlotte Schreiber, The Croppy Boy (The Confession of an Irish Patriot). Oil on canvas. 91.6 × 76.2 cm. National Gallery of Canada

Charlotte Mount Brock Schreiber (21 May 1834 – 3 July 1922

Early life Schreiber, née Morrell, second cousin of Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of the War of 1812, was born in Colchester, Essex, England. Before marrying and emigrating to Canada in 1875, she studied and found success in her native country. At Mr. Carey's School of Art in London, she trained with John Rogers Herbert, R.A., who specialized in historical paintings and portraits. She also studied anatomy and acquired a great understanding and appreciation for the human form: she wrote in 1895, "The human hand, the finger nail, the foot, every portion of the living body, the parts of a flower, are divinely beautiful … it is a joy to paint them as they are in reality". Her family built an estate of three homes: Mount Woodham, Iverholme, and Lislehurst, upon land gifted by Sir Isaac Brock that is today the location of the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Toronto Schreiber quickly got involved in the Toronto art scene. In 1876, a year after she emigrated, she was elected to the Ontario Society of Artists, and the following year, she became the first woman to teach at the Ontario School of Art, today's OCAD University, where she was also the only woman to serve on the school's council. She also played a role as a founding member of the Women's Art Association of Canada. In 1880, Schreiber became the first woman elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts,

At the Cowley Abbott Auction of An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art – Part III, December 6, 2023, lot Lot #131, Schreiber's Don’t Be Afraid, oil on canvas, 32.25 x 43 ins ( 81.9 x 109.2 cms ), Auction Estimate: $100,000.00 - $150,000.00,, realized a price of $624,000.00.