The Centre Block, part of the complex of parliamentary buildings on Parliament Hill in Canada's capital, Ottawa, hosts a gallery of portraits of present and former Canadian monarchs, former Prime Ministers of Canada, and other figures.
The collection of portraits of Canada's monarchs originated with the acquiring of a state portrait of Queen Victoria for the parliament buildings of the Province of Canada in Montreal in 1849. [1] As successive monarchs came to the throne, their portraits were added to the gallery. However, it was not until Senator Serge Joyal took on the personal project of amassing portraits of monarchs prior to Victoria that the collection came closer to completion, including the Kings of France since Francis I. [2]
The prime minister's portrait gallery dates back to 1890, when John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada, assisted in the unveiling of his own portrait. [3] At first, the works were commissioned by friends and colleagues, made by the artist's own initiative, and then donated to the Crown Collection. A century later, a more systematic approach was implemented, and the artist is now chosen by the prime minister, although Curatorial Services provide suggerences and assistance on the choice. [3]
The portraits are viewed by over 400,000 people a year. [3]
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
Francis I | After Titien | c. 1820 | Oil on canvas |
Louis XIII | Philippe de Champaigne | c. 1630 | Oil on canvas |
Louis XIV | Hyacinthe Rigaud | c. 1700 | Oil on canvas |
Louis XV | Charles-André van Loo | c. 1740 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
George III | Joshua Reynolds | 1779 | Oil on canvas |
George IV | Thomas Lawrence | 1822 | Oil on canvas |
William IV | Frederick Christian Lewis | 1831 | Engraving |
Victoria | John Partridge | 1842 | Oil on canvas |
Edward VII | Luke Fildes | 1903 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
George V | Luke Fildes | 1913 | Oil on canvas |
Edward VIII | Carl Vandyk | 1936 | Photolithograph |
George VI | Robert Swain | 1955 | Oil on canvas |
Elizabeth II | Lilias Torrance Newton | 1957 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
John A. Macdonald [n 1] | Henry Sandham | 1889 | Oil on canvas |
Alexander Mackenzie | John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | 1897 | Oil on canvas |
John Abbott | Muli Tang | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
John Sparrow David Thompson | John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | 1897 | Oil on canvas |
Mackenzie Bowell | Joanne Tod | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
Charles Tupper | Victor Albert Long | 1896 | Oil on canvas |
Wilfrid Laurier | John Wentworth Russell | 1919 | Oil on canvas |
Robert Borden | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1947 | Oil on canvas |
Arthur Meighen | Ernest Fosbery | 1948 | Oil on canvas |
William Lyon Mackenzie King | Frank Owen Salisbury | 1945 | Oil on canvas |
Richard Bedford Bennett | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1962 | Oil on canvas |
Louis St. Laurent | Audrey Watts McNaughton | 1958 | Oil on canvas |
John Diefenbaker | Cleeve Horne | 1968 | Oil on canvas |
Lester B. Pearson | Hugh Seaforth Mackenzie | 1968 | Tempera on masonite |
Pierre Trudeau | Myfanwy Spencer Pavelic | 1991 | Acrylic on canvas |
Joe Clark | Patrick Douglass Cox | 2008 | |
John Turner | Brenda Bury | 1999 | Oil on canvas |
Brian Mulroney | Igor V. Babailov | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
Kim Campbell | David Goatley | 2004 | Oil on canvas |
Jean Chrétien | Christian Nicholson | 2010 | Oil on canvas |
Paul Martin | Paul Wyse | 2016 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
Jean-Antoine Panet | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
Michel Chartier de Lotbinière | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
Louis-Joseph Papineau | Alfred Boisseau | 1881 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
David William Smith | Théophile Hamel | 1859 | Oil on canvas |
Alexander Macdonell | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
Levius Peters Sherwood | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
John Willson | Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
Marshall Spring Bidwell | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
Archibald McLean | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
Sir Allan Napier MacNab [n 2] | Théophile Hamel | 1853 | Oil on canvas |
Henry Ruttan | Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
Austin Cuvillier | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
Augustin-Norbert Morin | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
John Sandfield Macdonald | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
Louis-Victor Sicotte | Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
Henry Smith | William Sawyer | 1869 | Oil on canvas |
Joseph-Édouard Turcotte | Théophile Hamel | 1865 | Oil on canvas |
Lewis Wallbridge | William Sawyer | 1873 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
James Cockburn | George Theodore Berthon | 1872 | Oil on canvas |
Timothy Anglin | John Colin Forbes | 1878 | Oil on canvas |
Joseph-Godéric Blanchet | John Colin Forbes | c. 1880 | Oil on canvas |
George Airey Kirkpatrick | Frances E. Richards Rowley | 1887 | Oil on canvas |
Joseph-Aldric Ouimet | René Émile Quentin | 1889 | Oil on canvas |
Peter White | Robert Harris | 1894 | Oil on canvas |
James David Edgar | Alphonse Jongers | c. 1899 | Oil on canvas |
Thomas Bain | John Colin Forbes | c. 1900 | Oil on canvas |
Louis-Philippe Brodeur | Ozias Leduc | 1904 | Oil on canvas |
Napoléon Belcourt | Charles Ignace Adélard Gill | c. 1905 | Oil on canvas |
Robert Franklin Sutherland | John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | c. 1906 | Oil on canvas |
Charles Marcil | Ulric Lamarche | 1912 | Oil on canvas |
Thomas Simpson Sproule | John Colin Forbes | c. 1913 | Oil on canvas |
Albert Sévigny | Charles Huot | c. 1918 | Oil on canvas |
Edgar Nelson Rhodes | Sir Edmund Wyly Grier | 1921 | Oil on canvas |
Rodolphe Lemieux | Jacqueline Comerre Paton | c. 1924 | Oil on canvas |
George Black | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1934 | Oil on canvas |
James Langstaff Bowman | Kenneth Keith Forbes | c. 1935 | Oil on canvas |
Pierre-François Casgrain | Kenneth Keith Forbes | c. 1940 | Oil on canvas |
James Allison Glen | Kenneth Keith Forbes | c. 1945 | Oil on canvas |
Gaspard Fauteux | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1946 | Oil on canvas |
William Ross Macdonald | Lilias Torrance Newton | 1951 | Oil on canvas |
Louis-René Beaudoin | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1960 | Oil on canvas |
Roland Michener | Cleeve Horne | 1962 | Oil on canvas |
Marcel Lambert | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1963 | Oil on canvas |
Alan Macnaughton | Lilias Torrance Newton | c. 1964 | Oil on canvas |
Lucien Lamoureux | Suraj Sadan | 1977 | Oil on canvas |
James Jerome | Robert Stewart Hyndman | 1979 | Oil on canvas |
Jeanne Sauvé | Brenda Bury | 1984 | Oil on canvas |
Cyril Lloyd Francis | Anita Elizabeth Kertzer | 1987 | Oil on canvas |
John Bosley | Shirley Van Dusen | 1993 | Oil on canvas |
John Allen Fraser | Gregory Furmanczyk | 1994 | Oil on canvas |
Gilbert Parent | David Goatley | 2001 | Oil on canvas |
Peter Milliken | Paul Wyse | 2012 | Oil on canvas |
Andrew Scheer | Juan Carlos Martínez | 2018 | Oil on canvas |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
The Fathers of Confederation | Rex Woods | 1968 | Oil on canvas |
George-Étienne Cartier [n 3] | Juliette de Lavoye | c. 1965 | Watercolour on ivory / Glass; velvet; walnut |
Thomas D'Arcy McGee | Bruce Mitchell | 1957 | Oil on canvas |
George Brown | Juliette de Lavoye | c. 1965 | Watercolour on ivory; Glass; velvet; walnut |
Title/subject | Artist | Date created | Medium |
---|---|---|---|
The Royal Visit, 1939 | Frank Owen Salisbury | 1941 | Oil on canvas |
Opening of Parliament in the 19th Century | William Harvey Sadd | 1901 | Oil on canvas |
Discovery of Canada by Jacques Cartier | Copy by Augustine Leriverend after Ferdinand Perrot (1840) | Oil on canvas | |
Major General James Wolfe | Copy by Théophile Hamel | c. 1865 | Oil on canvas |
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm | Copy by Théophile Hamel | c. 1865 | Oil on canvas |
George Prevost | Copy by Théophile Hamel after Robert Field (c. 1808) | 1864 | Oil on canvas |
Amerigo Vespucci | Copy by Antoine Sébastien Falardeau | 1857 | Oil on canvas |
Christopher Columbus | Copy by Antoine Sébastien Falardeau | 1853 | Oil on canvas |
Title/Subject | Public Office | Artist | Date Painted/Created | Medium |
George Harold Baker | Member of Parliament | Robert Tait McKenzie | 1923 | Bronze |
Robert Borden | Prime Minister | Alfred Laliberté | 1915 | Marble |
Robert Borden | Prime Minister | Lionel Gooch Fosbery | 1927 | Plaster, painted |
Ellen Fairclough | First Woman Cabinet Minister | Elizabeth M. Bradford Holbrook | 1959 | Bronze |
William Lyon Mackenzie King | Prime Minister | Avard Tennyson Fairbanks | 1943 | Bronze |
Wilfrid Laurier | Prime Minister | Lionel Gooch Fosbery | 1938 | Plaster, painted |
Alexander Mackenzie | Prime Minister | Cléophas Soucy | 1943 | Plaster, painted |
Agnes Macphail | First woman elected to the House of Commons | Felix Weihs de Weldon | 1939 | Bronze |
Roland Michener | Governor General, Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Jarvis | 1982 | Bronze |
Louis St. Laurent | Prime Minister, Member of Parliament | Ernest Richard Gause | 1954 | Bronze |
J. S. Woodsworth | Leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Member of Parliament | Cléophas Soucy | 1946 | Plaster, painted |
John George Bourinot | Clerk of the House of Commons | Roland Beauchamp | 1949 | Bronze |
Adam Dollard des Ormeaux | colonist and soldier in Ville Marie, New France | Alfred Laliberté | 1923 (c. 1911-1915) | Bronze |
La France | Auguste Rodin | 1921 (1904) | Bronze |
The prime minister of Canada is the head of government of Canada. Not outlined in any constitutional document, the office exists only per long-established convention. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons; as such, the prime minister typically sits as a member of Parliament (MP) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. The prime minister is appointed by the monarch's representative, the governor general, and, as first minister, selects other ministers to form the Cabinet and chairs it. Constitutionally, executive authority is vested in the monarch, but, in practice, the powers of the monarch and governor general are nearly always exercised on the advice of the Cabinet, which is collectively responsible to the House of Commons. Canadian prime ministers are appointed to the Privy Council and styled as the Right Honourable, a privilege maintained for life.
The governor general of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, currently King Charles III. The King or Queen is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, and resides in the oldest and most populous realm, the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the advice of his or her Canadian prime minister, appoints a governor general to administer the government of Canada in the name of the monarch, performing most of the king or queen's constitutional and ceremonial duties. The commission is for an indefinite period—known as serving at His Majesty's pleasure —though five years is the usual length of time. Since 1959, it has also been traditional to alternate between francophone and anglophone officeholders; although, many recent governors general have been bilingual.
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Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in others that is a separate step. Under a modern constitutional monarchy, royal assent is considered little more than a formality. Even in nations such as the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein and Monaco which still, in theory, permit their monarch to withhold assent to laws, the monarch almost never does so, except in a dire political emergency or on advice of government. While the power to veto by withholding royal assent was once exercised often by European monarchs, such an occurrence has been very rare since the eighteenth century.
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By the arrangements of the Canadian federation, Canada's monarchy operates in Quebec as the core of the province's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy and constitution. As such, the Crown within Quebec's jurisdiction is referred to as the Crown in Right of Quebec, His Majesty in Right of Quebec, or the King in Right of Quebec. The Constitution Act, 1867, however, leaves many royal duties in the province specifically assigned to the sovereign's viceroy, the lieutenant governor of Quebec, whose direct participation in governance is limited by the conventional stipulations of constitutional monarchy.
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