John A. HAMMOND (1843 - 1939) R.C.A.

"Knocke, Belgium", oil on board, 17 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches, signed lower right, titled and signed verso. Provenance: the ancestral home of Arthur James Nesbitt Family, co-founder of Nesbitt Thomson & Co. (brokers) and the Power Corp Canada. Arthur J. Nesbitt bought Ogilvy Department Store (Montreal) in 1927. John Hammond was born in Montreal. Sometime after 1863, he trained as a photographer for William Notman and joined the Geological Survey of Canada that laid out the route west for the Canadian Pacific Railway. His interest in painting was enhanced by his travels. Hammond traveled to Dordrecht (Holland) where he painted briefly with James McNeill Whistler, and in France where he visited the forests of Fontainebleau and painted with Jean-François Millet (fils) and others associated with the Barbizon school. In 1885, he exhibited at the Paris Salon. His works were also shown at a number of other important venues including the Royal Academy in London and the National Academy of Design in New York City. In 1929, Montreal department store magnate and avid art collector J. Aird Nesbitt (1907-1985, son of Arthur J. Nesbitt) published "John Hammond : A Short Biography of Canada's Oldest Artist."