F.S. Challener's career arc might stymie a Canadian art historian, unless he or she understood that on travels abroad in 1898 and 1899, he experienced a kind of revelation, seeing mural painting in public buildings as a set of universal principles he could apply upon his return to Canada. Fortunately for Challener, he was able to become an important part of the mural painting scene in this country, practicing his art in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, London, Winnipeg and Oshawa, in theatres, restaurants, and private homes. From art as he knew it in Europe, he learned how to depict the figure in scenes that could be read easily by the viewer, as well as the way to create a harmony with the architecture of the building in such large-scale works.
At heart Challener was a Classicist -- in love with an Arcadian past he knew from studies abroad. An admirer of ancient civilizations, he often translated his obsession into an immediate and sensual experience in his mural paintings and in works such as “Serenade in a Landscape”.
In 1913, the date of “Serenade in a Landscape”, Challener lived in Winnipeg. He wrote the curator of the then Art Gallery of Toronto, R. Greig, that he was at work painting a set of decorative panels for a residence in Ottawa (someone wrote in the letter that the home was that of a J.W.H. Ross). This delicate watercolour with its arcadian theme may be related to his work in mural decoration. In it, Challener engineered his vision of the Classical past, combining a light touch with genuine homage.
Frederick Sproston Challener - Serenade in a Landscape | Cowley Abbott
