M. Brillant, Rimouski, Quebec
Estate of Mme Madeleine Brillant Humbert, Montreal/Monte Carlo
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal
Acquired by the present Private Collection, October 2013
Exhibited
“Thirtieth Annual Exhibition”, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Ottawa, 6-21 May 1909, no. 44
“Thirty-First Exhibition, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts”, Art Gallery Public Library, Hamilton, 25 November 1909, no. 44
“Canadian Art: A Child's World, Annual Exhibition”, Galerie Eric Klinkhoff, Montreal, 28 October‒11 November 2017, no. 25
“Our Children: Reflections of Childhood in Historical Canadian Art,” Varley Art Gallery, Markham, 13 April 2019‒23 June 2019
The French-born artist Edmond Dyonnet moved to Italy as a child before emigrating to Canada in 1875, settling in Montreal. He studied drawing at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Montreal from 1875 to 1881. In 1899, he went to paint in the Gaspé, in the Laurentians and in Berthier-sur-Mer. He was one of the founders of Montreal’s École des beaux arts with Alfred Laliberté and Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté. He taught there from 1922 to 1925, and also became professor of drawing at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, at the Conseil des Arts et Métiers of Quebec, and at McGill University. He trained numerous students including Narcisse Poirier, Clarence Gagnon, Thomas Garside, Alexander Young Jackson, Marc-Aurèle Fortin and Jack Bush. Little is known about Dyonnet’s personal life. The artist never married and had no children, and lived to age 95.
Dyonnet was best known as a landscape painter and portraitist, especially among the wealthy citizens of Montreal. Judges, doctors, and community leaders all commissioned their portraits. His inspirations were seventeenth century painters Nicolas Poussin and Claude Gellée (also known under the name Le Lorrain). Dyonnet maintained an academic style throughout his career; he was never drawn to Impressionism. This portrait of two girls reading a book together has a very strong attention to detail, particularly in the fabrics, colours and patterns of their dress.
