Snow covers the roofline of St. John’s Church on Wilson Street, its Gothic bell tower rising above a row of snow-laden spruce. Lamp posts mark the curve of the street below, where two figures walk past a scattering of wet tire tracks in the fresh snow. Panabaker painted the Dundas Valley and the streets of Ancaster throughout his career, close to where he lived, and this scene records one of the town’s own landmarks.
About Frank Panabaker
Frank Panabaker (1904–1992) trained under the painter McGillivray Knowles before studying at the Ontario College of Art and New York’s Grand Central School of Art. He exhibited professionally from 1927 and was one of a small number of Canadian artists of his generation able to support himself entirely by his painting, including through the Depression. Sara Delano Roosevelt purchased one of his works as a gift for her son, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and it hung in the White House for years. He became an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy, a trustee of the National Gallery of Canada, and was inducted into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction in 1996. Panabaker worked independently of the Group of Seven, describing himself instead as “the Group of One.” Ancaster and the surrounding Dundas Valley remained among his most frequent subjects throughout his life.
Artwork Details
- Artist: Frank Panabaker
- Title: St Johns Church Wilson St Ancaster
- Medium: Oil on Panel
- Size: 12″ h × 16″ w
- Subject: St. John’s Church, Ancaster Winter Street
- Style: Canadiana
- Art Category: Original
- Framing: Original period frame
Care and Display
Keep this painting out of direct sunlight and away from humidity or heating vents, and dust the surface only with a soft, dry brush.
Framing and Shipping
The painting is presented in a gold gallery frame with a generous linen mat, with outside dimensions of approximately 21″ h × 25″ w. It arrives ready to hang. We pack and crate historical works of this kind for shipping, or can arrange local pickup in Ancaster, Ontario. Contact us if you would like a virtual placement of this piece on your own wall before you commit.
See more of Frank Panabaker’s work on his artist biography page.
