Jean-Antoine Aide-Créquy

Jean-Antoine Aide-Créquy

Jean-Antoine Aide-Créquy, priest, painter (b at Québec City 5 Apr 1749; d there 6 Dec 1780). The first Canadian-born painter, he was the son of a master mason. He was ordained in 1773 and became parish priest at Baie-St-Paul. In June 1780, because of delicate health, he went to Québec's Hôtel-Dieu hospital, where he died several months later. His artistic training is unknown, but he learned by studying the work of Frère LUC in local churches and the European works found in the seminary and religious communities of Québec City. His paintings showed these influences, yet bore his own personal stamp. Most of his paintings were for churches, including those at L'Islet, St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, St-Joachim and Ile-aux-Coudres (today in the bishopric of Chicoutimi). Aide-Créquy followed the French tradition already established in Canada and his works are representative of the era following 1763.