O-436

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Thomas Bain

Portrait of Speaker Thomas Bain

Thomas Bain’s term as Speaker was brief, as intended. Bain had been a Liberal MP for 27 years when, upon the sudden death of James Edgar in 1899, he was made Speaker for the remainder of Edgar’s term. Bain, a farmer who was born in Scotland in 1834 and brought to the Hamilton-area as a child, earned praise for his impartiality from both sides of the Commons chamber. In 1900 he chose to not stand for re-election. John Forbes painted his portrait around that time, and while the robes and pose were traditional, the reddish-brown background hints of contemporary influence.

John Colin Forbes

The Forbes family arches over Canada’s early official portraiture like no other. Between John Colin Forbes and son Kenneth Forbes, they painted seven Prime Ministers and 25 speakers of the Senate or House of Commons. They also painted several British monarchs, most notably John Colin Forbes’s portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, which were destroyed in the fire at Parliament in 1916. Forbes was born in Toronto in 1846, and studied in London and Paris. He was friends with Wilfrid Laurier and painted more than one portrait of the MP and Prime Minister, including one that Laurier donated to the nascent National Gallery of Canada.