O-437

•

painting (portrait)

•

The Honourable Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt

Portrait of Speaker Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt

Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt was born in Toronto in 1860 to a family that soon moved to Trois-Rivières. He became a lawyer and eventually settled in Ottawa, and was elected to Parliament in 1896 as a leading voice for the rights of Franco-Ontarians. He was Speaker for only 10 months, but his brief tenure was hailed in the Commons as a success. Prime Minister Laurier made him a senator in 1907.

He died in 1932, and Belcourt, Quebec was named in his honour. Charles Ignace Adélard Gill painted his portrait in 1905, with Belcourt in luminous robes against a dark background.

Charles Gill

Charles Gill may be unique among Parliamentary portrait artists in that his father, Charles-Ignace Gill, had been a member of Parliament. Gill fils was born in 1871 in Sorel, Quebec. In school he reportedly had been a mediocre student, though once introduced to art he became more engaged. He studied in Montreal and at the École-des-beaux-Arts in Paris, then opened a studio in Montreal. He became an effective art teacher. He was committed to both painting and to writing, especially poetry. He died age 46, a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic.