O-458

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Charles Marcil

Portrait of Speaker Charles Marcil

Charles Marcil was the archetype of a constituency representative, with his focus ever on bringing federal funds and projects to the betterment of the people back home. The people in the riding of Bonaventure, Quebec, must have appreciated his advocacy, for they elected him to Parliament in 1900 and kept him there until his death in 1937. Marcil was born in what is now Mirabel, Quebec, and raised in Ottawa-Gatineau. He became Speaker in 1909, despite opposition concerns, and held the role until the government of Wilfirid Laurier was defeated in 1911. His portrait was completed by Ulric Lamarche in 1912.

Ulric Lamarche

Ulric Lamarche was born in Oakland, California in 1867, and seven years later his family moved to Moscouche, Quebec, now a suburb of Montreal. He studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian, then spent the remainder of his life working in Montreal. Several tranquil, impressionistic landscapes of the Quebec countryside are included in the collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. He died in 1921.