Peleg Franklin Brownell
Peleg Franklin Brownell
1857 - 1946
CAC OSA RCA
Franklin Brownell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He studied in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts, and later in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Atelier of Léon-Joseph-Florentin Bonnat, where he absorbed French academic influences. He painted in an academic realist manner in his figurative work, then after 1900 his landscapes were inspired by Impressionism. He exhibited at the Paris World's Fair in 1900, winning a bronze medal for his Royal Canadian Academy diploma work The Photographer.

After time spent in Montreal, he moved to Ottawa in 1886 to take a position as Headmaster of the Ottawa School of Art, which he kept until its temporary close in 1899. He taught with the Women's Art Association of Ottawa (later named the Art Association of Ottawa) from 1898 to 1921. When the Ottawa School of Art reopened in 1925, he was appointed principal, and he remained there until 1937.

Brownell became a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1895, exhibiting regularly in their shows. In 1907 he resigned from the Ontario Society of Artists to become a founding member of the Canadian Art Club. Club membership included the important painters of the time such as James Wilson Morrice, Horatio Walker, Homer Watson and William Brymner. Their shows included other important artists of the time, and were considered to have done much to arouse a national spirit among artists. He was a close friend of Eric Brown, the founding director of the National Gallery, who accompanied Brownell on painting trips to the West Indies in 1913 and 1914. Brownell's experience of light and colour there brought a brighter aesthetic into his painting.

He exhibited regularly at the RCA shows and with the Art Association of Montreal. Ottawa art dealer James Wilson and Company held exhibitions for him throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1922 he was honoured with a retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada, and in 1924 he exhibited at the important British Empire Exhibition in England. The Art Gallery of Toronto included his work in an exhibition of prominent painters such as Maurice Cullen and Marc-Aurèle Suzor-Coté in 1937.

Brownell died in Ottawa in 1946.
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The Little Girl, St. Kitts by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $20,000
Peleg Franklin Brownell
The Little Girl, St. Kitts
13 3/4 x 9 in, 34.9 x 22.9 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $20,000 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian & Impressionist Art on Thursday, May 29, 2025
Winter, Feeding the Horses / Landscape (verso) by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $16,380
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Winter, Feeding the Horses / Landscape (verso)
12 x 18 in, 30.5 x 45.7 cm
double-sided oil on board
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000 CDN
Sold for: $16,380 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2010 - 2nd Session on Thursday, November 25, 2010
Loading at Water's Edge by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $13,750
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Loading at Water's Edge
28 1/4 x 23 3/4 in, 71.8 x 60.3 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $12,000 - $16,000 CDN
Sold for: $13,750 CDN (premium included)
Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art on Thursday, November 24, 2022
Loading at Water's Edge by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $11,000
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Loading at Water's Edge
28 x 23 1/2 in, 71.1 x 59.7 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $12,000 - $15,000 CDN
Sold for: $11,000 CDN (premium included)
on Thursday, November 07, 1996
Gaspé Fishermen by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $8,260
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Gaspé Fishermen
12 1/8 x 16 in, 30.8 x 40.6 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000 CDN
Sold for: $8,260 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2014 - 2nd Session on Thursday, November 27, 2014
Boat Repairer, Probably St. Kitts by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $6,250
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Boat Repairer, Probably St. Kitts
10 x 14 in, 25.4 x 35.6 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CDN
Sold for: $6,250 CDN (premium included)
Historical Art on Thursday, January 31, 2019
Canadian Winter Scene by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $6,250
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Canadian Winter Scene
10 1/2 x 15 in, 26.7 x 38.1 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $6,250 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian & Impressionist Art on Thursday, May 29, 2025
The Ravine by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $4,375
Peleg Franklin Brownell
The Ravine
11 3/4 x 18 in, 29.8 x 45.7 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000 CDN
Sold for: $4,375 CDN (premium included)
July 2017 - 1st Session on Thursday, July 27, 2017
Pastoral Landscape with Sheep by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $4,025
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Pastoral Landscape with Sheep
14 1/4 x 18 1/4 in, 36.2 x 46.3 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $3,000 - $4,000 CDN
Sold for: $4,025 CDN (premium included)
Fine Canadian Art Spring 2003 on Thursday, May 15, 2003
Winter Scene by Peleg Franklin Brownell sold for $3,438
Peleg Franklin Brownell
Winter Scene
10 x 12 in, 25.4 x 30.5 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500 CDN
Sold for: $3,438 CDN (premium included)
The Canadian Winter on Thursday, January 30, 2025