The Artistic Legacy of the Montreal Sulpicians

September 13 to December 9, 2007

Place d’Armes, Montreal

The Company of the Sulpician Fathers was founded as part of the great movement of Christian evangelization and renewal that grew up in seventeenth century France. In 1657, fifteen years after the founding of Ville Marie, the first Sulpicians arrived in the New World, where they became Seigneurs of the island of Montreal and were appointed priests in perpetuity of the parish of Notre Dame, the only one on the island until 1866. Their standing made them leading players in the development of the colony’s art, architecture and town planning; they commissioned major projects and acquired outstanding works of art by the best artists for their chapels, presbyteries and priests’ residences. This exhibition of one hundred works will commemorate the Sulpicians’ importantcontribution to the history of art in Canada from the French Regime up to thepresent day (1657-2007).

This exhibition is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

 

 

Robert Auchmuty Sproule (1799-1845), Place d’Armes, Montreal, 1828, watercolour, graphite and ink on ivory vellum paper. Montreal, McCord Museum of Canadian History, gift of Mr. David Ross McCord. Photo McCord Museum.