A Life in Portraiture
Born in Caerhun, United Kingdom, Robert Harris moved to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1856. His early interest in art was nurtured by his mother, leading him to sketch images from magazines to practice his drawing. Seeking formal instruction, he traveled to study in Boston at the Lowell Institute, London at the Slade School of Art and the Heatherly School of Fine Art, and finally in Paris at the Atelier Bonnat.
Harris established a significant reputation as a distinguished portrait painter in Canada. His notable works include:
Artistic Evolution and Legacy
Throughout his career, Harris transitioned from an academic style to a mode influenced by Impressionism. In the late 1900s, he began incorporating fluid brushwork and vibrant color into his formal academic portraiture. He was a founding member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and served as its president in 1893.
Harris taught at the Ontario School of Art and the Art Association of Montreal. His legacy is preserved through the Robert Harris Collection and Archives, which includes his 1883 preparatory sketches for The Fathers of Confederation. This collection is housed at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He died in Montreal and was buried in Charlottetown.
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