Cornelius David Krieghoff (June 19, 1815 – March 5, 1872) was a Dutch-born Canadian-American painter of the 19th century. Krieghoff is most famous for his paintings of Canadian

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

and Canadian life outdoors, which were as sought after in his own time as they are today. He is particularly famous for his winter scenes, some of which he painted in a number of variants (e.g. ''Running the Toll'').

Life and career

Krieghoff was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Kingdom of Holland. When Cornelius was a boy, his father Johann Ernst Krieghoff returned to Germany (Krieghoff was likely German extraction via Lorenz Krieghoff of Thuringia) and worked for Wilhem Sattler to establish a wallpaper factory. His family was given accommodations in Schloss Mainberg, a 12th-century castle owned by Sattler, situated overlooking the Main River. He was initially taught by his father and then entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Germany about 1830. He moved to New York in 1836, and enlisted in the First Regiment of Artillery in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in 1837. While in the army, he made sketches of the Second Seminole War. He was discharged as Corporal from the army in 1840. Krieghoff traveled to Paris in 1844, where he copied masterpieces at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

under the direction of

Michel Martin Drolling Michel Martin Drolling (7 March 1786 – 9 January 1851) was a neoclassic French painter, painter of history and portraitist. Biography He was born in Paris. There, he began painting under the supervision of his father, the painter Martin Dr ...

(1789–1851). Together with his wife Émilie Gauthier, he moved to Montreal around 1846; he participated in the Montreal Society of Artists in 1847. While in Montreal, he befriended the Mohawks living on the Kahnawake Indian Reservation and made many sketches of them from which he later produced oil paintings. He and his family (daughter Emily) moved to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

in 1853. He returned to Europe in 1854, visiting Italy and Germany. In 1855, he returned to Canada. He served for a short time in the Volunteer Militia Company of Engineers (a Canadian Militia unit in Hochelaga, Montreal), then lived in Europe from 1863 to 1868 and moved to Chicago to retire. He died in Chicago on March 5, 1872 at the age of 56 and is buried in

Graceland Cemetery Graceland Cemetery is a large historic garden cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Ir ...

in Chicago. A decade later, on June 8, 1881, the Great Quebec Fire destroyed many of the sketches he had done at the time of his service In the First Regiment of Artillery in Florida, which were owned at the time by John S. Budden, who had lived with the artist for thirteen years. According to Charles C. Hill, the former Curator of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada, "Krieghoff was the first Canadian artist to interpret in oils... the splendour of our waterfalls, and the hardships and daily life of people living on the edge of new frontiers". The public collections holding works by Cornelius Krieghoff are the Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton, Canada), the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

(Toronto, Canada), the

Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, who funded the building of the gallery and assembled the original collection. It opened i ...

(Fredericton, Canada), the Brooklyn Museum (New York City), the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

(Calgary, Canada), the McCord Museum (Montreal, Canada), the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

(Montreal, Canada),

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

(Quebec, Canada), the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

(Ottawa, Canada), the New York Public Library (New York City), the

Rockwell Museum The Rockwell Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum of American art located in the Southern Tier region of New York in downtown Corning, New York. Frommer's describes it as "one of the best-designed small museums in the Northeast." In 2015, T ...

(Corning, New York), the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

(Winnipeg, Canada) and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax, Canada).

Recognition

On November 29, 1972 Canada Post issued 'Cornelius Krieghoff, painter, 1815–1872' designed by William Rueter based on a painting "The Blacksmith's Shop" (1871), by Cornelius Krieghoff in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario. The 8¢ stamps are perforated 11 and were printed by British American Bank Note Company. On July 7, 2000 Canada Post issued 'The Artist at Niagara, 1858, Cornelius Krieghoff' in the Masterpieces of Canadian art series. The stamp was designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier based on an oil painting "The Artist at Niagara" (1858) by Cornelius Krieghoff in the

, Toronto, Ontario. The 95¢ stamps are perforated 13 x 13.5 mm and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited.

Auction record

The auction record for a painting by Cornelius Krieghoff is $570,000 Canadian. This record was set by ''

Mail boat Mail boats or postal boats are a boat or ship used for the delivery of mail and sometimes transportation of goods, people and vehicles in communities where bodies of water commonly separate or separated settlements, towns or cities often where b ...

landing at Quebec'', a 17 by 24 inch oil painting on canvas sold November 20, 2006 at Sotheby's & Ritchies (

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

).''Blouin Art Sales Index.''
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Gallery

'The Blacksmith's Shop', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 22 x 36 in, 1871, Art Gallery of Ontario.jpg, ''The Blacksmith's Shop, oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 22 x 36 in, 1871,

Self-portrait by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1855 , National Gallery of Canada.jpg, Self-portrait by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1855,

'The Toll Gate', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1859, 17 x 24 in.jpg, ''The Toll Gate'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1859 'The Toll Gate', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1861, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''The Toll Gate'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1861,

'The Blizzard', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1857, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''The Blizzard'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1857,

'The Habitant Farm' , oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1856, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''The Habitant Farm'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1856,

'The Ice Bridge at Longue-Pointe', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1847-1848, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''The Ice Bridge at Longue-Pointe'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1847–1848,

'The River Road', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1855, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''The River Road'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1855,

'Winter Landscape', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1849, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''Winter Landscape'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1849,

'Winter Landscape, Laval', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1862, National Gallery of Canada.jpg, ''Winter Landscape, Laval'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1862,

Cornelius Krieghoff, Following the Moose, ca. 1860. Oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum.jpg, ''Following the Moose'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, ca. 1860, 11 x 9.5 in., Brooklyn Museum Fraser with Mr. Miller Up (1854 ) Cornelius Krieghoff.jpg, ''Fraser with Mr. Miller Up'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1854,

Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada (1848 ) Cornelius Krieghoff.jpg, ''Indian Wigwam in Lower Canada'', lithograph with watercolor on wove paper The Passing Storm, Saint-Ferréol - Cornelius Krieghoff.jpg, ''The Passing Storm, Saint-Ferréol'', oil on canvas painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1854,

Cornelius Krieghoff 001.jpg, ''Habitants'', painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1852 'Lumber Raft on the St. Lawrence ', oil painting by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1867.jpg, ''Lumber Raft on the

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

'', 1867 Krieghoff Huron-Wendat.jpg, Print,

Wyandot Wyandot may refer to: Native American ethnography * Wyandot people, also known as the Huron * Wyandot language Wyandot (sometimes spelled Wandat) is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known variously as Wyandot or Wya ...

hunter calling a

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, by Cornelius Krieghoff, about 1868 'Indian Woman Moccasin Seller', oil paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff.jpg, ''Indian Woman Moccasin Seller'' Signatures of Canadian painter Cornelius Krieghoff.jpg, He signed ''C. Krieghoff ''

References

Bibliography

* Barbeau, Charles Marius: ''Cornelius Krieghoff, Pioneer Painter of North America.'' The Macmillan Company of Canada, ltd., Toronto 1934. * Barbeau, Charles Marius: ''Cornelius Krieghoff.'' Ryerson Press, Toronto 1948. * Barbeau, Marius: ''Cornelius Krieghoff.'' Society for Art Publications, Toronto 1962. * Harper, J. Russell: ''Cornelius Krieghoff, The Habitant Farm.'' National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 1977. * * Jouvancourt, Hugues de: ''Cornelius Krieghoff.'' Musson Book Co., Toronto 1973. * Ministère des affaires culturelles: ''Cornélius Krieghoff, 1815–1872.'' Québec 1971. * . * Vézina, Raymond: ''Cornelius Krieghoff, peintre de mœurs, 1815–1872.'' Éditions du Pélican, Québec 1972. * Winkworth, Monsieur: ''Exposition d'estampes en l'honneur de C. Krieghoff, 1815–1872.'' McCord Museum, Montréal 1972.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
*
National Gallery of Canada

Smithsonian American Art Museum Art Inventories Catalog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krieghoff, Cornelius 1815 births 1872 deaths 19th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 19th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Canadian landscape painters Dutch expatriates in Canada German expatriates in Canada Painters from Amsterdam Dutch emigrants to Canada German emigrants to Canada Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago) Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) 19th-century Canadian male artists 19th-century Dutch male artists