Thomas Mower MARTIN (1838 - 1934) R.C.A.

Untitled, large Elm, oil on canvas, 35 x 22 inches, signed lower right. Thomas Martin was born in England. He was orphaned at 15; he lived with a supportive aunt. In 1862, a married Martin immigrated to British North America and built a small house in Muskoka, Ontario. Farming proved impossible because of the poor quality of the land and so the family moved and settled in Toronto, where Mower Martin soon became an established professional painter. He was highly proficient; Martin produced landscapes, animals, still lifes and portraits in oils, watercolours and etchings. He was a founding member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1872, founding director of the Ontario School of Art (which today is OCAD University), and charter member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1880). He was also a member of the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists (1909). Mower Martin exhibited widely as an artist during his lifetime and his works can be found in many public and private collections, including Windsor Castle in England.