O-432

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable James Cockburn

Portrait of Speaker James Cockburn

James Cockburn was the first Speaker in the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in England in 1819, studied law and became a lawyer in Cobourg, Ontario. In 1861 he was elected as an independent to the Assembly of the Province of Canada, where he supported nationalism, and was appointed Solicitor General in 1864. He attended the Quebec Conference in 1864, though his contribution was slight. After Confederation he was made Speaker, and is praised by historians for having set the tactful precedent for the role. He died in 1883. George Theordore Berthon painted his portrait in 1872.

George T. Berthon

George T. Berthon was born in 1806 in the palace at Vienna, where his French father, the court painter to Napoleon, was working on a commission for the emperor. By 1845 Berthon lived in Toronto, where an introduction to members of the Family Compact brought notable commissions. including the portraits Three Robinson Sisters and William Henry Boulton, now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Sir John Beverly Robinson, now in the National Gallery of Canada. For many years he prospered with commissions of public figures, and brought a degree of realism not often previously seen in Canada’s official portraiture.