O-791

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painting (portrait)

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The Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper

Portrait of Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper

It’s perhaps unsurprising that the official portrait of Canada’s briefest Prime Minister seems to have generated little fanfare at the time. It was painted by Victor Long in 1896, the year of Sir Charles Tupper’s 69-day term as Prime Minister. Tupper was busy campaigning for re-election, so Long painted from photographs, and the portrait was presented to Tupper on the campaign trail. Tupper, who was born in Amherst, N.S. in 1821, led Nova Scotia into Canada and today is remembered as one of political leaders who have become known as the “Fathers of Confederation.”

Victor Albert Long

Victor Albert Long was not seen as a groundbreaking artist, but he was widely hailed as an exceptional portraitist, and during his career he made paintings of public leaders at all levels of government service in Canada, as well as several British monarchs and the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Long was born in Ontario in 1866, and traveled the world as a young man, where he studied and perfected his art skills. He spent most of his adult life in Winnipeg and Vancouver, and both cities are still rich with examples of his work.