Joseph Légaré (1795–1855) was a highly influential painter, glazier, seigneur, and political figure whose diverse career left a profound economic and cultural mark on nineteenth-century Lower Canada. Born into a wealthy mercantile family in Quebec City, Légaré leveraged his initial training as a painter and glazier into a highly productive art career, eventually executing nearly 200 original works that documented local landscapes, prominent regional figures, and major historical occurrences.
Légaré demonstrated a keen entrepreneurial spirit throughout his professional life, proactively seeking to establish a viable commercial infrastructure for Canadian visual arts. In 1833, he opened the very first commercial art gallery in Canada located in Quebec City, later expanding his venture through a strategic business partnership with lawyer Thomas Amiot. Beyond his creative and commercial enterprises, Légaré was deeply engaged in civic governance and corporate-adjacent community structures. He served effectively on the Quebec municipal council, managed local public health initiatives, acted as a justice of the peace, and co-founded the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Quebec.
His late-career political ambitions culminated in an appointment to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada in early 1855, where he served as a political councillor until his death in June of that year. Today, Légaré is recognized not only as Canada's pioneering native-born landscape artist but also as a foundational visionary whose extensive personal collections and corporate civic leadership helped establish the baseline infrastructure for the nation's earliest premier cultural institutions.
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| Joseph Légaré |
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| 1820 Joseph Légaré, père de l'artiste |
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| 1820 Madame Joseph Légaré |
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| Early 19th Century Nature morte |
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| Early 19th Century Saint Jean-Baptiste |
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| 1822 Saint François de Paule ressuscitant un enfant |
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| Early 19th century Scène biblique dans un paysage avec un arc antique |
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| 1825 Sainte Geneviève gardant son troupeau |
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| 1826 Nature morte: les raisins |
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| 1830 Chute Montmorency |
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| 1830 La Vision de saint Roch |
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1830 Madame Charles-Maxime Defoy
née Marie-Louise Légaré soeur de l'artiste |
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| 1830 Monseigneur Joseph-Octave Plessis |
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| 1830 Saint Jérôme entendant la trompette du Jugement dernier |
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| 1831 La Vision de saint Antoine de Padoue |
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| 1833 Le Canadien |
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| 1835-38 Québec au soleil couchant |
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| 1836 Chute Montmorency |
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| 1840 Le Camp militaire de Wolfe à la chute Montmorency |
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| 1840 Les Chutes de Saint-Ferréol |
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| 1840 Chute de la rivière Etchemin près de Québec |
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| 1840 Paysage au monument à Wolfe |
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| 1840 Premier monastère des Ursulines de Québec |
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| 1840-49 Paysage |
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| 1843 Le Martyre des pères Brébeuf et Lalemant |
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| 1844 Fiançailles d'une Indienne |
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| 1844 Josephte Ourné |
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| 1845 Après l'incendie du faubourg Saint-Roch à Québec, vu vers l'ouest |
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| 1849 L'Incendie du Parlement à Montréal |
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| 1854 La Bataille de Sainte-Foy |
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