William Raphael

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A painter, art educator, and medical illustrator, William Raphael (1833–1914) was the first Jewish artist to establish a professional practice in Canada. Active during the latter half of the nineteenth century—a period that saw the rise of photography as a commercial medium—Raphael made a name for himself as a portraitist, painting the likenesses of some of Quebec’s most prominent politicians, businessmen, and military figures. He further excelled at genre scenes, and his works are celebrated for their important documentation of Indigenous communities, urban life, leisure, and architecture in Canada before and after Confederation.

In William Raphael: Life & Work, author Pierre-Olivier Ouellet traces the artist’s career from his early beginnings in Prussia to his training in Berlin, through to his time in Quebec. The book details how after Raphael moved to Montreal in 1857, he met the famed photographer William Notman (1826–1891) and worked for him painting sets and colourizing photographs. This early-career connection helped to situate Raphael within the province’s burgeoning cultural scene and placed him at the centre of the Art Association of Montreal’s formation in 1860. He soon became noted for his ability to depict a wide range of subjects including faces, natural life, anatomy, and religious scenes.

“William Raphael’s arrival in Montreal makes it possible to probe the history of immigration prior to Confederation, including the conditions that impacted the Jewish artist’s integration into this cultural milieu. For Raphael to contribute so profoundly to the visual folklore of Quebec, receiving accolades for his representations of rural life and the modern urban reality, is no small feat.”

– Pierre-Olivier Ouellet

Throughout his prolific career as a painter and teacher, Raphael developed a loyal audience and received acclaim, becoming one of the first members of the Royal Academy of Art in 1880. His unparalleled contributions to the visual folklore of Quebec have strengthened our understanding of nineteenth-century Canada. Combining realism with a picturesque sensibility, Raphael’s portraits and depictions of daily life and civic spaces captured the spirit of an emerging country. Today, Raphael’s paintings hang in the nation’s leading collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the McCord Stewart Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

ISBN 978-1-4871-0373-6

Published in Canada

Art Canada Institute

Massey College, University of Toronto

4 Devonshire Place,

Toronto, ON M5S 2E1

Banner Image: William Raphael, Bonsecours Market, Montreal, 1880. Collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 2015 (46501). Courtesy of the National Gallery of Canada. Photo credit: NGC.

About the Author:

Pierre-Olivier Ouellet

Pierre-Olivier Ouellet is an adjunct professor in the Department of Art History at Université du Québec à Montreal (UQÀM) and a professor at Cégep du Vieux Montréal. He holds a PhD from l’Université Rennes 2 in France, and his research touches on various themes linked to artistic production in Quebec and Canada before 1900. These include art collections developed under the French régime; the representation of Indigenous peoples; histories of artistic materials and techniques; as well as art historiography. The author of several articles and essays published both in Quebec and in Europe, Ouellet is currently undertaking research that probes the achievements of the artist François Baillairgé (1759–1830) and the writings of the art historian Gérard Morisset (1898–1970).

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