O-2259.1

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Henry Ruttan

Portrait of Speaker Henry Ruttan

Henry Ruttan was born in 1792 in Adolphustown, Ontario. He was a businessman, inventor and soldier, and was seriously injured during battle of Lundy Lane in 1814. He was first elected to the Assembly in 1820, and was Speaker for two months in 1837-38. As a member he played a key role in the Trent Canal project. He later acquired seven patents for more efficient heating and ventilation equipment and systems for buildings and railway cars. He died in 1871. Théophile Hamel painted his portrait in 1856, with Ruttan in Speaker’s robes and dark, muted background.

Théophile Hamel

Théophile Hamel was born in 1817 in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, and studied art in Quebec and in many of the great cultural centres of Europe. He was an astute business man and a tremendously successful artist, and the National Gallery of Canada calls him “one of early Canada’s greatest portrait painters.” In 1853 the government of the United Canadas appointed him official portrait painter, and tasked him with creating portraits of all Speakers since 1791, many of which were copied from portraits held by families or elsewhere. His subjects also included the generals Montcalm and Wolfe, and many other eminent figures of early Canada.