Otto Reinhold Jacobi

Oct. 28

Otto Reinhold Jacobi was a German Canadian artist born in 1812. He was associated with the Dusseldorf school of painting. As a young artist, he studied in Berlin at the Royal Academy of arts, and later at the Dusseldorf Art Academy. He worked in Nassau and Canada as a landscape and genre painter. In 1837, he was appointed the court painter to the Duchess of Nassau in Wiesbaden, where his work became quite popular. While Jacobi was on a visit to New York in 1860, he was offered a commission to Shawinigan Falls as a presentation gift was needed for the Prince of Wales state visit later that year. After his painting was finished, instead of returning to Europe, he decided to settle in Montreal. While in Montreal, Jacobi painted many landscapes, and his compositions portray the wilderness as a romantic and heroic place. Although his earlier work was focused on being extremely realistic, his style changed later on, portraying more idealised versions that were simply focused on the beauty of what he was painting. Jacobi eventually moved to Toronto after being invited to join the Ontario Society of Artists in 1876. In 1890, he became president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Jacobi died in 1901.