O-792

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Sir John Thompson

Portrait of Prime Minister John Thompson

The back story gives J.W.L. Forster’s official portrait of Prime Minister John Thompson a sombre air. Forster painted the portrait in 1897, after Thompson had died while still in office, and the artist portrayed Thompson in his regalia as a member of the Imperial Privy Council. Thompson had worn the same uniform in England three years earlier during his investiture into the Privy Council by Queen Victoria, only to die of a heart attack hours later at Windsor Castle. The portrait is another that was rushed from the original Parliament building during the fire of 1916.

J.W.L. Forster

J.W.L. Forster’s catalogue includes official portraits of Prime Ministers John Thompson and Alexander Mackenzie, unofficial portraits of other Prime Ministers, and recognizable names from Canadian history such as Bell, Eaton, Wolfe, Simcoe and Brock. He also did portraits of Queen Victoria, and the emperor and empress of Japan.

Forster was born in Norval, Ontario in 1850, studied in Toronto, London and Paris, then established a studio on King Street in Toronto in 1883. His painting “Departure of Canada’s First Contingent for South Africa, 1899,” was destroyed in the fire at Parliament in 1916, but his official portraits of Prime Ministers survived.