Description: An original Marmaduke Matthews (British / Canadian, 1837-1913) RCA, OSA, watercolour on paper titled verso, ‘Mt. Madison NH, from the Mt. Washington Rd’, circa 1879. Depicted is a rocky Mt. Washington Rd on the side of the infamous Mt. Washington, with an adventurer cutting diagonally through the center left of the scene. It is flanked high and low by the sublime vista of Mt. Madison and the Presidential Mountains range.
Marmaduke Matthews (British/Canadian, 1837-1913) RCA, OSA
‘Mt Madison NH, from the Mt. Washington Rd.’ (c. 1879)
watercolour on paper
(Actual): 8” high x 20 ⅞” wide
(Framed): 17 ⅝” high x 30 ½” wide
Notes: Matthews recounts his experience in the Presidential Mountains a year later in his book “Cloud-Bound: An Artist’s Experience in the White Mountains of New Hampshire”, September 1880 Rose-Belford Canadian Monthly, Volume 5 (RB5: 28-70 S 80).
“The view on all sides was grand and awe inspiring. The country was a vast sea of mountains, far surpassing any sight my eyes had ever been regaled with … the sensation was much the same as that experienced on other mountain tops, but the scene was unique for all that … it was vast, grand, and of a character to be seen nowhere else but in New England. At this moment, the toils of the ascent were forgotten; or perhaps served only to enhance the gratification experienced; and I felt that I would, willingly, endure ten times the exertion for such reward; even though, in that lonely spot, I felt strongly my own insignificance, and comparisons with insects actively suggested themselves to my mind.”
Another painting from this same trip was his first submission to the first ever Royal Canadian Academy (RCA) Exhibition, of which he was a Charter member and first Secretary – a testament to the impact this trip in New Hampshire would have on his person and career.
Markings: signed lower left, “M. Matthews,” and titled on reverse, “Mt Madison N.H., from the Mt. Washington Rd,” circa 1879
(Actual): 11 ¾” high x 15 ½” wide
(Framed): 15 ½” high x 18 ½” wide
Condition: Very Good – Excellent; an antique painting it may show expected light signs of age; the colours retain their brightness, and it is framed and matted behind glass to further preserve the artwork for the future. It is ready for display.
Artist Biography: Marmaduke Matthews (British / Canadian, 1837-1913) was born in 1837 at Barcheston, Warwickshire, England. He was educated at Oxford, came to Canada from England in 1860, and settled in Toronto. For Five years after emigrating to Canada, Marmaduke Matthews traveled to New York, where he stayed four years (1865-1869). As an extensive and enthusiastic traveller, Marmaduke Matthews’ journeys years in Vermont, and New Hampshire. Matthews was a charter member of the Ontario Society of Artists (OSA), and in 1894, he was elected its president. In 1880, he was chosen as a charter member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and was appointed its first secretary by the Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne. Matthews is best known for his landscape paintings, and he was one of the earliest and most successful artists to paint the Rocky mountains. William Van Horne, one of Canada’s greatest art collectors and president of The Canadian Pacific Railway, commissioned several artists, including Matthews, to follow the construction of the railway west, and draw the landscape along the way. This project began in 1888, and every summer for a period of ten years. He died in Toronto in 1913.
