Description
The painter was Annie Florence Nightingale Beals, nee Smith 1866-1954. She attended the Acadia Ladies Seminary in Wolfville, where she found her interest in painting. She married Rev. Francis Harris Parker Beals 1856-1927, and had four children. She painted landscapes in water colour during her long life and taught her daughter Helen the same skills. Many of her watercolours have been hung in buildings on the Acadia Campus. The watercolour is a view of Cape Blomidon, Minas Basin, and the town of Wolfville as seen, possibly, from the Beals' house on Hillside Ave., Wolfville. In the background are Cape Blomidon and the hamlet of Kingsport. Staddles are sticking out of the water in the harbour. The date of the painting was determined because the Skoda Factory, which is the most prominent building, was built in 1895 and then moved in 1898 to the location shown in the painting. The lighthouse was reputedly built in 1902. Along the waterfront the third building from left is a railway warehouse with a ventilator on the top, a smoke stack which was probably part of the dairy, then the Skoda Factory, a three masted schooner, the lighthouse, and a red wharf warehouse. On the right is the steeple of the old Methodist Church which was built in 1865 and torn down in 1925. In the centre is the pointed, conical tower of the Harrington House at 4 Acadia St., and to the right is the 2nd Empire Roscoe Potter house, built in 1888 at the corner of Gaspereau Ave. and Starr St. The donor of the painting was the artist's daughter who was also a gifted artist, and was head of the Department of Art at Acadian University from 1945 to 1963.
Handwritten in pencil in lower right corner: A.F. Beals.
Medium: Paper; watercolour
Image Licence
All Rights Reserved
Image Credit
Image courtesy of Wolfville Historical Society
Location
Blomidon, Nova Scotia, Canada
Country
Canada
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
