Katherine Jane Ellice (1812-1864) : de Beauharnois à Glenquoich, rires et pérégrinations d'une artiste en mouvement

The author reassesses the Canadian and Scottish artistic production of Scottish watercolourist and caricaturist Katherine Jane Ellice (1812-1864). Adopting a transnational perspective, the author offers a portrait of Ellice's artistic practice, humour and social networks. She notes that Ellice's political culture was that of the British aristocracy, which followed the parliamentary calendar by moving from the capital to the country houses where politics took place in the more informai circles in which women were very influential. Such politically motivated travel led Ellice to Lower Canada in 1838 when she accompanied her husband Edward Ellice Junior (1810-1880), at the time private secretary to Governor-General Lord Durham (1792-1840) during his mission to solve the political crisis taking place in Lower and Upper Canada. Travelling from Quebec City to Beauharnois, where the seigneurial house of her father-in-Iaw was located, Ellice also visited the United States and Upper Canada. The author draws on original documents by Ellice held in state archives (Library and Archives Canada, National Library of Scotland), notably her travel diary and the drawings and watercolours that she painted and exchanged within her social networks. The author explains that the distinct contributions of Ellice to art history are elucidated through detailed analysis of her artistic production, drawing a special attention to one of the watercolours that she painted during her confinement at the presbytery of Beauharnois in November 1838 when a group of Patriotes made her their prisoner for nearly a week. This analysis fosters new interpretations and adds to the evidence of women taking arms during the rebellions. The author also addresses Ellice's caricatural production and her participation in exchange networks of humorous images. Finally, the author examines the political role played by Ellice from the 1840's to the 1860's when, living in Glenquoich (North of Scotland) with her husband and her father-in-law, in a house visited each year by hundreds of persons, she assumed a political responsibility that also furthered the unique role that she played in the circulation of visual culture.

Master's Thesis

Université du Québec à Montréal

Montréal

2019

xi-223p.

fr