George Théodore Berthon

Canadian portrait artist (1806–1892)

George Théodore Berthon RCA

Born	3 May 1806 Royal Palace of Vienna
Died	18 January 1892 (aged 85)
Nationality	Austrian-born French
Education	Paris, France. He likely was trained by his father who is said to have been a student of Jacques Louis David
Known for	Canadian portrait artist

George Théodore Berthon RCA (3 May 1806 – 18 January 1892) was a Canadian portrait painter. Born in Vienna to a well-known French portrait painter, René Théodore Berthon, he emigrated first to Great Britain, and then to Canada, sometime before 1845. He specialised in portraiture of high-ranking British and Canadian officials, developing a sense of realism and simplicity. He died in Toronto in 1892.

Biography

Berthon's father, René Théodore Berthon, was a court painter to Napoleon I, and likely trained his son in art. As well, his knowledge of art in Paris would have been significant: his father was a student of Jacques Louis David.^[1] As an adult, he lived in England for a number of years in the household of Sir Robert Peel to teach Peel's daughters drawing and French.^[2] The first verifiable record of his immigration to Canada is an advertisement for his portraiture services in a Toronto newspaper in 1845.

Berthon was notable in the history of Canada for his creation of formal portraits characterized by a sense of realism. He focused on defining his subjects' features and characters without idealization. The composition of his portraits remains simple with dark backgrounds. His work is important both as a historical record and as an example of the style of Canadian portraiture during that period.

He was nominated as a founding member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts^[3] but failed to qualify.^[2] He was elected a life member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1891.^[2]

He died of a bronchial infection, at his Toronto home, in 1892.^[1]

Paintings by George Théodore Berthon

Colonel John Graves Simcoe
Sir John Colborne, GCB, GCMG (Baron Seaton) Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, 1828–36
George Murray (British Army officer), Governor of Upper Canada, 1815
Sir John Beverley Robinson
Peregrine Maitland
General Isaac Brock c. 1883
Lieutenant Governor Frederick Philipse Robinson, Upper Canada, 1815
Francis Gore
Lieutenant Governor Henry William Stisted of Ontario, 1867–68
Peter Russell (politician) President and Admin of Upper Canada, 1796–99, ca 1882
Lieutenant Governor Gordon Drummond of Ontario
Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor General of the Province of Canada, 1854–1861

References

^ ^a ^b Lowrey, Carol. "George Theodore Berthon". www.biographi.ca. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bradfield 1970, p. 27–29.
^ Records of the Founding of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. Toronto: Globe Printing Co. 1879–80. p. 16. ISBN 9780665132964.