Explore The Royal Family's close relationship with the region, as well as the diverse artistic traditions represented in the Royal Collection
Quebec from Point Lévis
Signed and dated 1881Oil on canvas | 56.1 x 112.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404834
Queen Victoria commissioned two views of Quebec in Canada from the artist Lucius Richard O'Brien – this one and a view from the King's Bastion (RCIN 405305). The commission was conveyed to the artist by the queen’s daughter, Princess Louise, and her husband the Marquess of Lorne, who was Governor General of Canada from 1878–83. Lorne and Louise were important patrons of the arts in Canada, instrumental in the founding of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the National Gallery of Canada. Louise herself had studied sculpture at the National Art Training School in London.
The royal couple were closely connected to O’Brien, who was himself a founder-member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and also its first president from 1880 to 1890, at the time this painting was produced.
