Horatio Walker

Horatio Walker LL.D. (May 12, 1858 – September 27, 1938) was a Canadian painter. He worked in oils and watercolours, often depicting scenes of rural life in Canada with special attention to French Canadian rural tradition. He was influenced by the Barbizon school and the French realist tradition.

Life and work

Early life

Walker was born in Listowel, Upper Canada in 1858, to parents Thomas and Jeanne Maurice Walker.

In 1870, on Walker's 12th birthday, his father brought him to Quebec City, Quebec, for the first time. His father made occasional business trips to the city as part of his timber business. During this sojourn, they visited the Île d'Orléans, in search of pine timber. Walker made subsequent visits to Quebec City during the following years. His formal schooling ended at the Listowel Public School in 1872; he never went on to pursue formal academic training in art. At the age of 15, Walker moved to Toronto, Ontario to apprentice with the photographic firm Notman and Fraser. It was a fortunate opportunity, as several successful artists also worked there; Walker learned watercolour from Robert Ford Gagen, miniature portrait painting from John Arthur Fraser, and painting from Lucius Richard O'Brien and Henri Perré.

Mature life and career

Walker was only at the firm for three years until he moved to the United States of America for uncertain reasons. Writing in 1928, Hector Charlesworth suggested that Walker was "chucked down the stairs" and fired for quarrelling with a family relative. However, it is more likely that Walker travelled to Philadelphia for the American Centennial in 1876, an exhibition where Notman and Fraser won the international award, which gave the firm the privilege of exclusive photographic rights for the celebrations. Ultimately, Walker may have decided to stay and pursue painting.

Memberships and organizations

Walker was a member of several artists' organizations, including the American Watercolor Society (1882), the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (associate member in 1883, full member in 1913), the Society of American Artists (1887), the National Academy of Design (associate member in 1890, full member in 1891), and the British Institute of Watercolours (1901). He was a founding member of the Canadian Art Club, which elected him as its president in 1915.

Selected works

A Canadian Pastoral After the Wedding An Old Islander At Low Tide Ave Maria Boeuf à l'abreuvoir By the Fireside Canoe Cove Célestin Corner of Pig Lane in Québec Corner of Sainte-Pétronille Corner of the Stable De Profundis Deo Gratias Église de l'Île-aux-Grues Fagot Gatherers Farmhouse Interior First Snow Fishing Nets Girl with Turkeys Golden Dew Hauling the Log Hauling Wood Hay Making

Horses at Trough Ice Cutters Interior of a House Killing Pigs La Rencontre La soue à cochons La tonte du mouton Le vieux four Little White Pigs and their Mother Man Sawing Wood Maple Sugar Harvest Mare and Foal Milk Maid Île d'Orléans Milking Early Morn Milking on the Batture Morning Île d'Orléans Morning Sainte-Pétronille Old House at Sainte-Famille Oxen drinking Oxen Ploughing Peasant Scraping Pig Pétronille de Saint-François Potato Gatherers Preparing the Feed

Sheep Shearers Spring Forage The Bake Oven The Farmer's Wife The Gardener The Harrow The Rainbow The Return The Royal Mail The Sheep Fold The Shepherdess The Smugglers The Sorcerers The Thresher The Turkey Girl Tournant la herse Tree Fellers Turkeys Turning the Harrow Unloading Hay Boat Vieille Maison à Ste-Famille Way-Side Shrine at Saint-Laurent Winter Wood-Cutters