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101-593: MMFA can stand for: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Media Matters for America , a media-watchdog organization Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title MMFA . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MMFA&oldid=796249465 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

202-491: A Canadian art pavilion. This new pavilion allowed the museum to double the display surface currently dedicated to Canadian artists. A Romanesque Revival church with Tiffany stained glass, dating from 1893 to 1894, the church had been designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1998. It was named the Claire and Marc Bourgie pavilion, as a recognition of the family's considerable financial support, and opened in 2010. With

303-401: A conditional discharge with probation and community service as his sentence; a character in the 2016 film Yoga Hosers was inspired by him after the story was reported in the media. The insurance company had taken legal ownership of the relief as a result of paying the claim, and while the museum could have bought it back by simply repaying the claim it declined to do so, as the relief

404-609: A McGill graduate and professor. However, threats to the built heritage of the Square Mile remain. The buildings formerly occupied by the Royal Victoria Hospital and the remaining property on which they stand have been empty since 2015, when the hospital itself moved into the new 'McGill Superhospital' in the Glen Yards. The Royal Vic, a veritable Montreal landmark, has been expanded several times since it

505-559: A Spring Salon devoted to the works of living Canadian Artists. The gift made by Benaiah Gibb was a watershed event in the founding of the museum's collection. The generous gift engaged a keen interest in the public and, because of it, the donations multiplied. Too cramped at its original location, the Art Association strongly considered the idea of moving from Phillips Square to the Golden Square Mile , where most of

606-421: A collection of over 300 objects, including 150 paintings, was donated by the descendants of Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal . In 1917, the Art Association of Montreal created a department devoted to the decorative arts. The department was entrusted to Frederick Cleveland Morgan, who became the curator of the collection on a voluntary basis from 1917 until his death in 1962. Morgan added more than 7,000 pieces in

707-488: A considerable amount of their own money for the construction of the museum. This included a large donation by businessman James Ross. The Phillip's Square location was demolished in 1912, and is now a Burger King. A limited architectural design competition was conducted to select an architect among three architectural firms that were invited to apply. The museum committee selected the project proposed by brothers Edward Maxwell and William Sutherland Maxwell . Trained in

808-406: A descendant of R.B. Angus and an heir as the grand-niece of Lord Mount Stephen , has been fighting to maintain not just the wishes but the conditions set down by the founders to the city, and find use for the land and its buildings as a research facility . Heritage Montreal are also supporting her in her efforts. In 2014, McGill University released a proposal for the integration of the site into

909-612: A guard's head dating to 5th-century-BCE Persia was stolen the same way. The two works were valued at $ 1.3 million together. In late 2013, a tip led investigators to the home of Simon Metke, an Edmonton man. The SQ, in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police , executed a search warrant and recovered the Persian piece in January 2014. He was charged with possession of stolen property, possessing

1010-483: A high terrace under the mountain, looking southwards and laid out in pleasure-grounds in the English style. The view from the drawing room windows of this large and beautiful mansion is extremely fine, too rich and fair, I foolishly thought, to be out of my native England. Close beneath you are scattered elegant country retreats embowered in plantations, succeeded by a crowd of orchards of delicious apples, spreading far to

1111-494: A little too much expense devoted to them; and this prevents all but the wealthy from indulging in such hospitalities. The Upper parts of the town are of more recent growth, and contain commodious and detached houses, belonging to the men of business and persons of fortune. The streets in this part of the town are as yet incomplete, showing at present certain gaps, which will ere long be filled up with handsome houses. They are all flanked by trees, chiefly maples (which) greatly add to

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1212-690: A package of cheap land (their land holdings were equal in size to the Province of Alberta ) with a cheap ticket from Britain through to the Canadian West . Together they had built a nation, seeing over a million immigrants settle in the west, and by exploiting the mineral resources included in their land grants, they and their shareholders would see their net earnings grow year on year to $ 46 million in 1913. Unprecedented amounts of capital now flowed in from Britain to build Western Canada , and Montreal , where every major company had its headquarters,

1313-466: A place of residence, to almost any town that I have ever seen." Oxenden particularly enjoyed the "picturesque city's cheerfulness (and the) kindness of its inhabitants": There is an abundance of charitable institutions at Montreal (and) all well managed.. among the Roman Catholics especially there are many institutions on an enormous scale.. I have hardly seen a beggar in the streets or in

1414-643: A splendid style, and keep expensive tables". They kept townhouses on St. James Street, Notre-Dame Street and overlooking the Champ de Mars ; enjoying among other entertainments the German Orchestra and Viennese dances held at the Hayes House theatre on Dalhousie Square. In 1795, Isaac Weld commented that "the people of Montreal, in general, are remarkably hospitable and attentive to strangers; they are sociable also amongst themselves, and fond in

1515-641: A third of Canada's invested wealth, and the great majority of them were based in Montreal . The Square Mile had reached its peak in the Edwardian era , both in spirit and substance. What followed was a steady decline as aggressive American-style corporations took control of the family businesses whose origins laid with the Scots-Quebecers and the Beaver Club. 'New money' swept into Montreal from

1616-520: A trend among his boardroom colleagues, as Oxenden had correctly predicted, filling the gaps within the Square Mile. From the 1890s into the Edwardian era the city enjoyed a gilded age. Stephen Leacock recalled, "the rich in Montreal enjoyed a prestige in that era that not even the rich deserve". The men of the CPR retired in the 1890s, having created "the world's greatest transportation system," selling

1717-511: A trust fund for the purchase of works of art. This was the main source of income for the museum's acquisition of European paintings until the 1950s. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the large art collections owned by many prominent Montreal families became dispersed through shared inheritance. However, some heirs made large donations to the museum, such members of the Drummond, Angus, Van Horne, and Hosmer families, among others. In 1927,

1818-512: A vigorous public debate regarding conservation of historical buildings, and the reasons for which a building should be preserved. The demolition of the Van Horne mansion led to the establishment of Heritage Montreal to protect historic buildings at the provincial level. The architectural character of the neighbourhood stabilized, but the original Square Mile as it had been had already changed beyond recognition. Modern architecture has emphasised

1919-617: A visit offering sympathy and supplying any basic needs. When Martha Allan trained as a nurse and bought an ambulance which she drove in France , her mother was inspired to set up a hospital in England for Canadian soldiers. Economically, Montreal would emerge from the war nearly unscathed, due in a large part to the steady hand of the president of the Bank of Montreal, Sir Vincent Meredith . In 1919, fifty families were said to have controlled

2020-452: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal , Quebec , Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west . The MMFA

2121-711: Is my home". The best households were not always necessarily run by Canadians, but by governesses, butlers, cooks, nursemaids and maids sourced from Britain, who were used to working in large houses. The men associated with the Beaver Club, the predecessors of the Square Milers, had almost all served in the Canadian Militia and on the outbreak of the First World War the next generation did not hesitate to take up arms. At his own expense, Hamilton Gault raised Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry ,

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2222-542: Is perhaps no wealthier city area in the world than that comprised between Beaver Hall Hill and the foot of Mount Royal , and between the parallel lines of Dorchester and Sherbrooke Streets in the West End. The wealth inherited and managed by the next generation of Square Milers continued to grow, but while many were successful as businessmen they were less entrepreneurial. They financed and worked closely with newcomers such as Sir Edward Beatty , Sir Herbert Samuel Holt and

2323-458: Is rich and rare, in shrub or flower . Completed in 1863, Sir Hugh Allan's new house, Ravenscrag , was to be the jewel of the Square Mile, as he intended. He purchased fourteen acres from the decaying McTavish estate and built a sumptuous home of 72 rooms that excelled "in size and cost any dwelling-house in Canada ," surpassing Dundurn Castle . By the 1860s, Montreal had come of age, which

2424-630: Is spread across five pavilions, and occupies a total floor area of 53,095 square metres (571,510 sq ft), 13,000 (140,000 sq ft) of which are exhibition space. With the 2016 inauguration of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace, the museum campus was expected to become the eighteenth largest art museum in North America . The permanent collection included approximately 44,000 works in 2013. The original "reading room" of

2525-637: The Art Association of Montreal was the precursor of the museum's current library, the oldest art library in Canada. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a member of the International Group of Organizers of Large-scale Exhibitions, also known as the Bizot Group, a forum which allows the leaders of the largest museums in the world to exchange works and exhibitions. Founded in 1860, it is the oldest art museum in Canada. In 2020, it

2626-539: The Beaux-Arts tradition, they proposed a building that catered to French taste of the time: sober and majestic. Work began in the summer of 1910 and finished in the fall of 1912. On December 9, 1912, the Governor General of Canada , Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn , inaugurated the new Museum of the Art Association of Montreal on Sherbrooke Street West in front of 3,000 people present for

2727-572: The Canadian Heritage Information Network , and the Virtual Museum of Canada . Golden Square Mile From the 1790s, the business leaders of Montreal looked beyond Old Montreal for spacious sites upon which to build their country homes. They developed the farmland on the slopes of Mount Royal north of Sherbrooke Street , creating a neighbourhood famous for its grandeur and architectural audacity. At

2828-616: The Montreal Exchange North America 's oldest brewery , Molsons , but others moved their headquarters elsewhere, such as the Bank of Montreal , Sun Life Financial , the Royal Trust and The Guarantee Company of North America . Toronto had surpassed Montreal as the financial capital of Canada in 1934, and the move of these companies out of Montreal marked the end of an era. By the end of World War II ,

2929-667: The Mount Royal Club . In 1899, finding that the St. James' Club had become "too overcrowded," the Square Mile's leading businessmen, led by the likes of Strathcona and Angus , established the Mount Royal Club that overnight became Montreal's most prestigious. Lord Birkenhead found it to be "one of the best clubs I know in the New World , with the indefinable atmosphere about it of a good London club". As much as

3030-473: The Old Masters collection belonging to James Ross was frequently loaned out for public exhibition around the world. Ashton Oxenden was Bishop of Montreal from 1869 to 1878. As an Englishman , previously well travelled in France , Italy , Germany , Switzerland and Spain , he paid a high complement to "this flourishing and wealthy city" when he stated that, "upon the whole, I prefer Montreal, as

3131-470: The country . There is a great absence of poverty , except perhaps among the lowest French population.. Happily there is at present (1871) a kindly feeling between the Roman Catholics and Protestants , each pursuing their own course without molesting the other. The general cost of living (is) much the same as in an ordinary English town.. Dinner parties are frequent in Montreal. There is perhaps

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3232-455: The 1850s, the mercantile elite turned its interest to railways and shipping. By the mid-19th century, the Montreal mercantile elite, residing in the Square Mile, firmly held the reins of Canada's economy. The merchants successfully connected Canada by building a network of railroads and exploiting maritime routes and the port of Montreal, which l remained the principal port through which immigrants arrived, and also through which Canada's produce

3333-715: The British Empire. A strong British influence predominated in the Golden Square Mile during this era. This was recognised in London by increasingly frequent Royal visits . "The Union Jack flew from Ravenscrag (since inherited by Sir Montague Allan)" where the Montreal Hunt now met, and Lady Drummond was heard to reflect the sentiments of the Square Mile by stating, "the Empire is my country. Canada

3434-549: The Hopkins and Wily architecture firm, comprised an exhibition room, another smaller room (known as the Reading Room) reserved for graphic works as well as a lecture hall and an embryonic art school. The museum was enlarged in 1893 by founding member G. Drummond's nephew, Andrew Thomas Taylor, with decorative carving by sculptor Henry Beaumont. The Art Association held an annual show of works created by its members as well as

3535-540: The Lilian and David M. Stewart is devoted to decorative arts and design. The Claire and Marc Bourgie houses the Quebec and Canadian art, and the new Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for peace is the home for the international art collection. On February 14, 2007, the museum's administration board announced its project to convert the Église Erskine and American  [ fr ] , located on Sherbrooke West street, into

3636-525: The McGill campus. Built in 1886, it was designed by the noted architect Sir Andrew Taylor and was one of the last of his residential projects still standing in the city. In 1986, the Sochaczevski family, the new owners of Francis Redpath's house, began demolition in order to replace it with yet another a vista-changing condominium block. A portion of the house was destroyed before a court injunction

3737-557: The Mount Royal), but this only served to further alieniate the declining enclave . Changing attitudes, the war , the introduction of income tax and the invasion of commerce in the streets below Sherbrooke all played their part in the decline. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 affected a great number of Square Milers, though not as badly as it did their American counterparts. Art collections were sold and some tried to sell their houses, but there were no takers. The J.K.L. Ross House

3838-471: The Square Mile in its infancy: The scenery I find remarkably pretty, and, moreover, the city has an air of comfort, and to a certain extent of antiquity, rarely to be seen in the States .. The view from ( Mount Royal 's) summit is most picturesque, - green undulating land dotted with country houses and cottages, with beautiful gardens and trees.. The scene of the terrible fire which occurred here three years ago

3939-494: The Square Mile was altered, leading to the formation of Heritage Montreal to preserve historic architecture in the city. By 1983, only 30% of the mansions in the northern half of the Square Mile had survived demolition; and only 5% survived south of Sherbrooke Street. Many of the remaining mansions, such as the James Ross House, today known as Chancellor Day Hall, are today owned by McGill University . Nevertheless,

4040-603: The Square Mile's General Sir Arthur Currie . The Ladies of the Square Mile raised money for the troops and some like Lady Meredith , the Gaults and the Baumgartens opened their houses to injured soldiers returning from Europe . The personal services in England of the Canadian Red Cross were under the charge of Lady Julia Drummond who saw that each Canadian soldier returned to an English hospital received

4141-481: The Square Mile's peak (1850–1930), its residents included the owners and operators of the majority of Canadian rail, shipping, timber, mining, fur and banking industries. From about 1870 to 1900, 70% of all wealth in Canada was held by this small group of approximately fifty men. By the 1930s, multiple factors led to the neighbourhood's decline, including the Great Depression , the dawn of the automobile ,

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4242-776: The United States, Western Canada and, such as the Bronfman family , from different ethnic backgrounds. Similarly to the Canadiens of the Ancien Régime a century before, the Square Milers with their old-fashioned British ideals and business principles did not adapt to the changes in society and held themselves aloof. Newcomers, who neither knew nor cared about the old guard and their traditions were more often than not barred from entry into Square Mile society (such as membership to Montreal's most prestigious men's club,

4343-476: The addition of a fifth pavilion, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts occupies a surface area of 53,095 square metres (571,510 sq ft), of which 13,000 square metres (140,000 sq ft) is dedicated to exhibition space. The expansion will make it the eighteenth largest art museum in North America . In 1892, John W. Tempest bequeathed sixty oil paintings and watercolor paintings as well as

4444-688: The advent of the locally owned North West Company . In the 1760s, the men of the Beaver Club , a gentlemen's dining club, provided the financial backing and necessary management to take control of the fur trade . The new merchants were associated with the North West Company , the Hudson's Bay Company and the agents of the East India Company , and eventually dominated the fur market in most of British North America . As many of

4545-466: The beauty of the town. The Montreal builders are excellent. They not only run up their houses at an indescribable speed, but they build them well and substantially. Aside from the men at the very top, the CPR had also brought about another housing boom to the Square Mile: In 1885, Sir John Abbott , the company's chief lawyer, built his new home on Sherbrooke Street and Peel, and in doing so set

4646-420: The best form of London life — even in the circle beneath the very first class of official families. But I may be pardoned; for I had seen in the capital of another great colony ( Cape Town ) considerable primitiveness of manners.. (In Montreal) at an evening party at Mr Richardson 's the appointments and service were admirable; the dress, manners, and conversation of the guests, in excellent taste. Most of

4747-523: The building backs directly onto the back of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion. The building's architecture is modernist , made of concrete structures located along du Musée Avenue and in contrast with the classical architecture of the first pavilion. It was controversial at the time, despite innovations like the ceiling box for a track lighting and large open interior. The pavilion houses nearly 900 decorative art and design objects. Most objects come from were donated by Liliane and David M. Stewart, hence

4848-539: The city's financial elite lived at the time. They settled on the site of the abandoned Holton House, on Sherbrooke Street West , for the construction of the new museum. Senator Robert Mackay , the owner of the property, was convinced to sell the house for a good price. A committee responsible for the construction of the museum was formed consisting of James Ross , Richard B. Angus , Vincent Meredith , Louis-Joseph Forget and David Morrice (the father of painter James Wilson Morrice ). Most members of this committee offered

4949-440: The collection and a museum guide. On September 4, 1972, a major theft took place at the museum. Fifty objects were taken including eighteen paintings, including works by Peter Paul Rubens , Rembrandt , Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Eugène Delacroix that were never recovered. Major contributions have been made by Renata and Michal Hornstein since the 1970s. These have included works by Old Masters , as well as several of

5050-683: The course for the Quiet Revolution. The social divide between anglophones employers and French Canadian workers in Quebec had existed for a long time, but the economic turmoil of the Great Depression led to calls for change from the status quo. For the next four decades the Union Nationale government, with the support of the Catholic Church , dominated Quebec politics, undermining anglophone domination. In 1977,

5151-515: The demand for more heat-efficient houses, and the younger generations of the families that had built these homes having largely moved to Westmount . During the Quiet Revolution , some of the businesses created in Montreal , on whose fortunes the Square Mile had been built, moved to Toronto . In this period, the Square Mile evolved to gradually become the central business district, and many of its grand houses were demolished. The face of

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5252-568: The east–west axis, from south to north: Sherbrooke Street West, McGregor Street (now Doctor Penfield Avenue ) and Pine Avenue. The architects of the Square Mile included Robert Findlay , Bruce Price , Sir Andrew Taylor , William Thomas , John Hopkins and the brothers Edward and William Maxwell . The architecture was an eclectic mix of the Neo-classical , Neo-Gothic , Romanesque , Second Empire , Queen Anne and Art Nouveau , though other styles also figured prominently, sometimes within

5353-493: The extreme of convivial amusements". But lively as it was, Old Montreal with its frequent fires and swelling population was becoming less desirable. The wealthy merchants in particular began to seek large plots of land on which to build homes worthy of their success while remaining close to their business interests; and, their eyes turned to the fertile farmland under Mount Royal . John Duncan observed in 1818 that, "a number of very splendid mansions have lately been erected on

5454-530: The facade of New Sherbrooke Apartments, an apartment-hotel that occupied the site since 1905. On September 4, 1972, the museum was the site of the largest art theft in Canadian history, when armed thieves made off with jewellery, figurines and 18 paintings worth a total of $ 2 million at the time (approximately $ 14.3 million today), including works by Delacroix , Gainsborough and a rare Rembrandt landscape ( Landscape with Cottages ). One painting, believed at

5555-415: The form of acquisitions, bequests or donations to the museum's collection. He also expanded the mandate of the museum, from an institution dedicated solely to the fine arts to an encyclopedic museum , open to all forms of art. Since 1955, the museum gained the acquisition funds it needed to buy Canadian or foreign works from the legacy of Horsley and Annie Townsend. Several gifts and bequests are made by

5656-472: The heirs or descendants of the collectors who founded the Art Association. Other donations come from new donors such as Joseph Arthur Simard, who in 1959 offered a collection of 3,000 Japanese incense boxes that belonged to the French statesman Georges Clemenceau . In 1960, the centennial of the founding of the Art Association of Montreal was highlighted by the publication of a catalog of selected works from

5757-575: The homes within the Square Mile were for the most part left empty or only partially occupied. Montreal's central business district had shifted northwest toward Sherbrooke Street, in the area of the Square Mile. From 1945 to 1965, many of the great mansions were acquired by commercial and civic institutions and demolished or repurposed beyond all recognition. The majority of the mansions were demolished and replaced with high-rise office or residential developments, but some two dozen other homes were also transformed into university or commercial offices. Ravenscrag

5858-408: The insurance money from the theft, the museum bought a large Peter Paul Rubens painting, The Leopards , which it promoted as the largest Rubens in Canada. However, years later a conservator had the paint tested and found that the red pigments in it were mixed around 1687, four decades after Rubens died; the painting has since been reattributed to Rubens' students. In 2007, on the 35th anniversary of

5959-448: The integration of older buildings with new developments. An example is Maison Alcan , formerly the home of Lord Atholstan , which became the headquarters of Alcan in the early 1980s. Another example is Lady Meredith House , home to McGill 's Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, which was broken into and set on fire in the 1990s. McGill subsequently renovated and retrofitted the old house to its original elegance, hiring Julia Gersovitz,

6060-606: The largest collections of drawings of the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler . These gifts expanded the range of the museum's collections, and reached a peak in 2000, with admission of the modern design collection assembled by Liliane M. Stewart and David M. Stewart, long a part of the Montreal Decorative Arts Museum and exhibited at the MMFA from 1997 to 2000. Liliane M. Stewart donated over 5,000 objects to

6161-402: The largest, most decorative homes. The city's lively reputation had not diminished, as Charles Goodrich suggested with a hint of disapproval: "If you wish to enjoy good eating, dancing, music and gayety, you will find an abundance of all (at Montreal)". While staying at Donegana's Hotel in 1853, Clara Kelly wrote to her father, Sir Fitzroy Kelly , describing her impressions of the city and

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6262-565: The last of the great Square Mile tycoons, J.W. McConnell . These men had easily integrated themselves into Square Mile society, but there was a new and hungrier generation of anglophones coming to Montreal, epitomised by Sir Henry Thornton , who were not as readily accepted by the older generation, which jealously guarded over the dominance of their cornerstones, the CPR and the Bank of Montreal . Notably, this new group included Max Aitken and Isaac Killam , who were 'pilled' (barred) from entry into

6363-577: The last privately raised regiment in the British Empire. He was injured three times leading his regiment into battle, and even after losing a leg he still returned to the Front. Lord Strathcona's Horse , raised by that Canadian peer for the Boer War , was once again returned to action. The British Prime Minister David Lloyd George claimed to his biographer that had the war continued into 1919, he would have sought to replace Field Marshal Douglas Haig with

6464-525: The latter is less bold than the former in its scenery, it possesses much richness and delicate beauty, which need nothing but wealth and taste to display them to advantage; the former already exists in Montreal to a great extent, and there are also very respectable proofs of the existence and growth of the latter. Following the strikes and the Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal ,

6565-480: The long winters. The streets of the Square Mile were lined with elm , spruce and maple trees, but an outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s destroyed those that had once lined Sherbrooke Street. In 1642, a fort named Ville Marie was founded on the Island of Montreal by Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve . Ville Marie became a centre for the fur trade and French expansion into New France until 1760, when it

6666-400: The luxuries and comforts of high civilisation as Montreal. Before the 1840s, the landed, political and wealthier merchant classes of Montreal lived on their seigneuries during the summers and came to the city only for Parliament or to conduct business during the winter. In 1816, Francis Hall, then a young officer with the 14th King's Hussars , observed that Montreal's gentry "live in

6767-445: The mansions of the Golden Square Mile represent a prosperous period during which Montreal was the cultural and financial capital of Canada. The neighbourhood had precise borders measuring roughly a square mile , covering the area between Dorchester Boulevard at the southern end, Pine Avenue at the foot of Mount Royal at the northern end, University Street at the eastern end, and Guy Street (along with Côte-des-Neiges Road ) at

6868-598: The modernist Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion across the street, designed by Moshe Safdie , built in 1991; the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion, the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion built 2011 and recently inaugurated the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace. While the Desmarais Pavilion houses modern and contemporary art collection, the Hornstein's focus is specifically archaeology and ancient art;

6969-463: The museum after several difficult years. In the mid-1980s, he proposed a major expansion of the museum. This proposal led to the construction of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. In 1991, the museum's third building, designed by Moshe Safdie , was built on the south side of Sherbrooke Street. It was funded by contributions from governments and the members of the business community, notably the Desmarais family. Safdie's architectural design incorporated

7070-418: The museum's collection (estimated value of C$ 15 million). In 1964, the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts demanded the return of the 16th century painting by Giorgio Vasari, which the Montreal Museum had acquired in 1963. Budapest said it was included in a 1952 catalog of war losses. After initially rejecting the request, an accord was reached. In 2005, the heirs of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker requested

7171-409: The name of the pavilion. The collection includes furniture , glass , silverware , textiles , ceramics and works of industrial design . These objects were made of a variety materials, reflecting their origins in different countries and time periods. The appointment of Bernard Lamarre in 1982 as president of the board of directors and the new director, Alexander Gaudieri (1983–1988), revitalized

7272-520: The new Vice-regal couple, while Montreal was attracting celebrities of the day such as Charles Dickens , Rudyard Kipling , Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln . At the same time in London, the likes of Emma Albani and Sir Gilbert Parker were representative of Quebec's culture. In the 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed under the direction of Lord Mount Stephen , Lord Strathcona and R.B. Angus , after which it

7373-484: The new decade was "like the arrival of a Montreal spring , prosperity and stability invigorated the city in the early 1850s". Sir Hugh Allan was elected President of the Montreal Board of Trade in 1851 and work on railways and steamships was evident everywhere, bringing with it a surge of construction. There were now a dozen architects practising in the city and the newly rich competed with one another for

7474-718: The newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) government passed the Charter of the French Language (known as Bill 101), making the use of French language mandatory for medium and large-scale companies when communicating with French-speaking staff. This law, the election of the PQ, and the threat of Quebec independence caused instability in the province's business environment, and accelerated the move of some companies' headquarters from Montreal to other Canadian cities, including Calgary and Toronto. Some companies remained in Montreal, including

7575-564: The next generation spent their money on parties, new houses, grand refurbishments and summer homes, they also continued to pour money back into education , health , and culture ; albeit for the most part to the benefit of Montreal's anglophone community. Giving an estimated $ 100 million to charity in his lifetime, McConnell followed in the magnanimous steps of some of Montreal's best remembered philanthropists, such as Lord Strathcona, to whom King Edward VII referred as "Uncle Donald" in recognition of his generosity towards charitable causes across

7676-437: The occasion. In 1949, the Art Association of Montreal was renamed as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which was more representative of the institution's mandate. In 1972, the MMFA became a semi-public institution funded mainly by government funds. An expansion of the museum was undertaken during the 1970s culminating in 1976, with the opening of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion. Designed by architect Fred Lebensold

7777-430: The organization had an itinerant existence during which its shows and expositions were held in various Montreal venues. In 1877, the Art Association received an exceptional gift from Benaiah Gibb, a Montreal businessman. He gave the core of his art collection consisting of 72 canvases and 4 bronzes. In addition he donated to the Montreal institution a building site on the north-east corner of Phillips Square and further

7878-420: The persons there, though country-born, had been educated in England ( Britain ), and everything savoured of Kensington . There was much good music.. Some of the show-shops rival those of London in their plate-glass windows, and its inns are as remarkable for their palatial exterior as they are for their excellent accommodation within.. Montreal is a stirring and opulent town.. Few places have so advanced in all

7979-489: The proceeds of a crime and possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking; his girlfriend faced the latter two charges as well. Metke pled guilty to the first charge in April 2017. He and the prosecutors agreed that while he did not know the relief had been stolen, he could have taken more steps to ascertain that it had not been than just doing a Google search on "Is a Mesopotamian artifact missing?" He received

8080-616: The return of The Deification of Aeneas, a 17th-century work by Charles Le Brun. In 2013, the museum returned Gerrit van Honthorst's The Duet (1623–24) to the heirs of Jewish art collector Bruno Spiro, from whom it had been confiscated by the Nazis. The museum publishes online a list of artworks with incomplete provenances for the Nazi years 1933 to 1945. The museum is affiliated with the Canadian Museums Association ,

8181-412: The right and left, and hedging in the glittering churches, hotels, and house-roofs of Montreal... The early residents of the Square Mile enjoyed marked benefits from being the first to settle there: The houses were surrounded by acres of parkland, with long carriage drives, vineries , orchards , fruit and vegetable gardens . The surveyor Joseph Bouchette noted that the produce from these gardens in

8282-445: The same home. By World War I , simpler houses were built, such as Herbert Molson 's. Maison Cormier was one of only a few examples of Art deco . Scottish sandstone and local granite were commonly used materials, and most homes had substantial grounds, atria and large conservatories . A great many of the Square Milers were keen horticulturalists and aside from their gardens , they enjoyed keeping hothouse flowers through

8383-421: The slope of the mountain, which would be regarded as magnificent residences even by the wealthy merchants of the mother country". In 1820, John Bigsby described the view from Château St. Antoine, then said to be 'the most magnificent building in the whole city and standing within 200 acres of parkland roughly at the end of Dorchester Street: I had the pleasure of dining with (William McGillivray) at his seat, on

8484-515: The sum of money of $ 8,000. This latter gift was on condition that a new museum be constructed on the site within three years. On the 26 May 1879, the Governor General of Canada , Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell , inaugurated the Art Gallery of the Art Association of Montreal, the first building in the history of Canada to be constructed specifically for the purpose of housing an art collection. The Art Gallery at Phillips Square, designed by

8585-468: The summer months was "excellent in quality, affording a profuse supply... in as much, or even greater perfection than in many southern climes". In 1822, Sir Richard Phillips commented that, A number of handsome villas now make their appearance around the town, and there are numerous sites still unoccupied, which will probably be hereafter crowned with elegant seats. Few places in the world possess more capabilities of this kind than Quebec and Montreal; if

8686-490: The theft, it was removed from exhibit and remains in storage. One day before the 39th anniversary of the 1972 theft, a visitor took a 20-by-21-centimetre (7.9 by 8.3 in) Roman marble head from the 1st century CE from its pedestal. The perpetrator was able to escape the museum before the head's absence was discovered. Late in October 2011, about eight weeks after the original theft, a similarly sized sandstone relief of

8787-510: The time to have been a Jan Brueghel the Elder but later reattributed to one of his students, was returned by the thieves as a way of opening ransom negotiations; the rest have never been recovered. The thieves likewise have never been identified, although there is at least one informal suspect. In 2003, The Globe and Mail estimated that the Rembrandt alone would be worth $ 1 million. With

8888-463: The wealthy French Canadians moved from Canada to France following the Conquest, British merchants were able to cheaply purchase vast tracts of land upon which to build factories, and take control of the banking and finance of the new Dominion . The growing fortune of the Montreal mercantile elite of this era was consolidated through marriage and company mergers. After the collapse of the fur trade in

8989-502: The western end. In effect, however, the 'Square Mile' was contained within a far smaller area, between Sherbrooke Street and Pine Avenue, and Côte-des-Neiges and University, covering scarcely nine streets on the north–south axis. From east to west: McTavish Street , Peel Street , Stanley Street , Drummond Street , Mountain Street , Ontario Avenue (now Avenue du Musée), Redpath Street, Simpson Street and Guy Street ; and three streets on

9090-486: Was built in 1893, and the changes have never before been cause for concern. In 1891, the public-spirited Lords Mount Stephen and Strathcona purchased the land and gave the necessary funds to the City of Montreal for which to build the hospital. However, they attached a caveat to their donation, stating that the land and its buildings must only ever be used for education and healing. From 2010, Elspeth Angus (born in 1929),

9191-495: Was continued by Lord Shaughnessy and Sir William Cornelius Van Horne . Celebrating their success, they spared no expense on their homes, with interiors decked in detailed mahogany and private art galleries housing works of the likes of Raphael , Rembrandt , Cézanne , Constable and Gainsborough etc. Van Horne's collection of Japanese pottery brought connoisseurs from Britain , the United States and Japan ; and

9292-497: Was left by Sir Montague and Lady Allan to the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1942. The sumptuous residence was converted into the Allan Memorial Institute , and McGill University used its fourteen acres of grounds to erect subsidiary buildings. Some demolitions were controversial. The Van Horne Mansion , the centre of Square Mile society since the 1930s was demolished by promoter David Azrieli in 1973, igniting

9393-418: Was offered for sale at the 2016 Frieze Art Fair . While police suggested at the time of Metke's arrest they had some leads on the thief, he has not been identified. The Roman head also remains missing as of 2017. The museum is partitioned into five pavilions: a 1912 Beaux Arts building designed by William Sutherland Maxwell and brother Edward Maxwell , now named the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion;

9494-513: Was once again at the centre of this latest web of prosperity - "those who thought that the government of Canada was in Ottawa were mistaken, it was here ". In perhaps no section of the Colonies have Englishmen and Scotsmen made more of their opportunities than in Montreal. There is an air of prosperity about all their surroundings which at once impresses the visitor. Taken all in all, there

9595-470: Was pointed out to us. It has fearfully devastated a great part of the town. It seems difficult to understand how such a fire could have lasted so long a time and have done so much mischief, as the houses were not built of wood, which I had always imagined to be the case.. (We visited) a most beautiful and wonderful garden, belonging to a Montreal merchant (probably John Torrance of St. Antoine Hall), whose name I forget but who has collected here everything which

9696-624: Was recognised by three Royal visits from the future Edward VII , Prince Alfred and Prince Arthur , the most of any colony. Following the Confederation of Canada , the mercantile elite was led by the Allan brothers (Sir Hugh and Andrew ), described by the Gazette as the "pioneers of our commercial greatness". In 1878, the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise were posted to Canada as

9797-419: Was shipped to and from Britain and the Empire . For decades, the wealth accumulated from the fur trade, finance, and other industries made of Montreal's mercantile elite a "kind of commercial aristocracy, living in lordly and hospitable style," as Washington Irving observed. In 1820, John Bigsby penned his impressions of the city: I found, but did not expect to find, at Montreal a pleasing transcript of

9898-606: Was sold for $ 50,000 in 1930, only a few years after it had been valued at $ 1 million. Those who had relied on investments moved to smaller, more heat-efficient houses in Westmount or took apartments at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal , whereas others like Sir Herbert Samuel Holt , who never dealt on margin, emerged untouched. The Great Depression in Canada during the 1930s fueled the Quebec nationalist movement and set

9999-700: Was surrendered to the British army, following the French defeat of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham . British immigration expanded the city. The British immigrants who came to Montreal after the Conquest tended to be from well-connected mercantile families and immigrated to Canada as a means to further their fortunes, unlike earlier British immigrants who came to North America to escape religious or political persecution. The city's golden era of fur trading began with

10100-522: Was taken out and its destruction was temporarily halted. In 2001, Mayor Pierre Bourque granted immediate demolition of the house. In 2002, following intervention by Heritage Montreal , Projet Montréal and local citizens, the Commission d'arbitrage de la Ville de Montréal refused the demolition permit granted by the Bourque administration, on the grounds of the solidity of the house and reminding

10201-420: Was the most visited art museum in Canada. Founded in April 1860 by Anglican bishop Francis Fulford , the Art Association of Montreal was created to "encourage the appreciation of fine arts among the people of the city". Since it did not have a permanent place to store acquisitions the Art Association was not able to acquire works to display nor to seek works from collectors. During the following twenty years,

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