O-691

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Sir David William Smith

Portrait of Speaker David Smith

David Smith was born in England in 1764, and as a soldier in 1790 joined his father’s regiment in Detroit. In 1792 he was elected to the Parliament of Upper Canada. He was passionate about crafting laws but skeptical of democracy. Though he ran for his seat unopposed, he spent 200 pounds on election day and instructed, “Throw open Forsyth’s Tavern and call for the best he can supply. Push about the bottle. The more broken heads and bloody noses, the more election-like.” He returned to England in 1802, and died a baronet in 1837. Théophile Hamel posthumously painted his portrait.

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.