By the 1930s, Nobel Prize winner Sir Frederick Grant Banting had become a recognized amateur painter in Canada. His paintings were known for their profound sense of colour, light and shadow. Banting accompanied A.Y. Jackson on many sketching trips into the Canadian wilderness, practicing and mastering the art of “en plein air” painting.
“Island, French River, Ontario”, executed during a trip with Jackson to the Sudbury area, captures the rugged landscape of the Canadian north. As Stephen Eaton Hume remarks, “Nothing was the same for Banting as painting in Canada. He felt as if his native country were more precious to him than life. He loved the land, the rivers, mountains and animals.” Banting prized these sketching trips, as painting was only a part-time passion for the industrious doctor. He had a bustling medical practice in London at the time and dreamed of becoming a full-time painter.
