Old Lady Spinning by William Raphael

Born in Nakel, Prussia and educated at the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin, Willam Raphael brought with him a Germanic tradition of figure painting when he arrived in Montreal in 1857. In the 1860s he painted portraits, still lifes and city views that combine topography and genre, most notably in his famous painting of 1866 depicting people grouped behind Bonsecours Market (National Gallery of Canada, acc. no. 6673). He was undoubtedly attracted to the costumes and characteristics unique to Quebec, be it the garb of a habitant in a rustic interior (a theme he treated in several paintings) or women bringing their wares to market.