20 December 2008
Painting Was Inherited from Elderly Aunt
Painting by Frederic
Bell-Smith.
Fenelon Falls Ontario - Question: I acquired
this framed watercolour six years ago after my mother died. It's in very good condition and in its original frame and matting. The
painting itself measures 20 by 41 cm (eight by 16 inches). It's a landscape with rocks in the foreground, a sailboat and steamship on
the water, and mountains in the background. It's signed FM Bell-Smith. My parents originally inherited the painting from
an elderly aunt in the early 1980s.
Answer: Frederic Bell-Smith is one of many Canadian painters who originally came from another country but spent
most of his life here. He was born in England in 1846 and moved to Montreal when he was 21.
His father initially trained him to paint and the two of them later joined other artists to form the Society of Canadian Artists, a
non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the visibility and stature of the visual arts.
Bell-Smith was also one of a number of artists hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s to record, with
his paintings, the construction of the railway through the Canadian Rockies. While Bell-Smith is an especially talented
watercolour painter, he did use oils as well.
This is one of his smaller and less exciting paintings, but it's still worth about $1,500.
|
