Franklin Brownell
Franklin Brownell (born Peleg Franklin Brownell, also known as Franklin Peleg Brownell) (July 27, 1857 – March 13, 1946) was a landscape painter, draughtsman and teacher active in Canada. His artistic career in Ottawa spanned over fifty years.
Also recorded as Franklin Peleg Brownell · Franklin P. Brownell · Peleg Franklin Brownell · Franklin Pèleg Brownell
Franklin Brownell

Melvin Ormond Hammond · All images from the M.O. Hammond fonds were uploaded as part of the Archives of Ontario’s GLAM Wiki project. · Public domain
- Name
- Franklin Brownell
- Birth Name
- Peleg Franklin Brownell
- Born
- 27 July 1857
- Birthplace
- New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Died
- 13 March 1946
- Place of death
- Ottawa
- Field
- Painter
- Training
- Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Académie Julian
- Spouse
- Louise Nickerson (m. 1889)
- Nationality
- Canada
- Occupation
- painter · teacher · draftsperson
- Fields
- painting
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Franklin Brownell (born Peleg Franklin Brownell, also known as Franklin Peleg Brownell) (July 27, 1857 – March 13, 1946) was a landscape painter, draughtsman and teacher active in Canada. His artistic career in Ottawa spanned over fifty years.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Franklin Brownell. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q27891395 · wikipedia · Franklin Brownell
In this article
Biography
Biography
Franklin Brownell studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Académie Julian. Training under Tony Robert-Fleury, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Léon Bonnat is recorded. Anthony Law is recorded as having studied under Franklin Brownell. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Work by Franklin Brownell is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and Musée d'art de Joliette. Distinctions recorded are Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Franklin Brownell • Birth Name — Peleg Franklin Brownell • Born — 27 July 1857 • Birthplace — New Bedford, Massachusetts • Died — 13 March 1946 • Place of death — Ottawa • Field — Painter • Training — Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Académie Julian • Spouse — Louise Nickerson (m. 1889)
Biography
Biography
• Illustration — Franklin Brownell – Peche sur glace, collines de la Gatineau, 1915 Brownell studied at the Boston Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1879 and at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1880 to 1883 with William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Tony Robert-Fleury and Léon Bonnat. There he met fellow expatriate and Canadian painter William Brymner. After spending some time in Montreal, Brownell moved to Ottawa in 1886 to take up the position of Headmaster of the Ottawa School of Art until 1900. He accepted the same position as headmaster between 1900 and 1937 with the Women's Art Association in Ottawa, later renamed the Art Association of Ottawa. Among his students were Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Henri Masson and Robert Tait McKenzie. Brownell was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1895, and the Ontario Society of Artists in 1899. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Art Club in Toronto in 1907. Through the club, he became friendly with Maurice Cullen and James Wilson Morrice. As a result, his palette began to lighten. His most impressionist paintings were painted on several trips to the West Indies between 1911 and 1915. Other painting trips he took were to the Gaspé and Gatineau regions of Quebec, to Algonquin Provincial Park and other areas around Ottawa in Ontario. Besides landscapes, he produced portraits, flower studies, marine and genre scenes in oil, watercolour and pastel. Though celebrated as an Impressionist, Brownell also created social realist depictions of the city, demonstrating a sensitivity to urban concerns that was rare among his contemporaries.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition • 1900 he won a bronze medal at the Paris World's Fair exhibition for The Photographer • 1904, Canadian exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, • In 1922, he was honored with a retrospective exhibition of his work at the National Gallery of Canada. He was the first artist to receive this honor. • 1924–25, British Empire Exhibition, 1924–25 • 1998, North by South: The Art of Peleg Franklin Brownell, major retrospective at the Ottawa Art Gallery
Record sale prices
Record sale prices
At the June 8 2023 Cowley Abbott Auction Artwork from an Important Private Collection - Part II, Tea Time (1901), oil on canvas laid on board, 15.5 x 11.5 ins (39.4 x 29.2 cms), Auction Estimate: $12,000.00 - $15,000.00, realized a price of $90,000.00.
Identity
Identity
Franklin Brownell is recorded with the occupation draftsperson. Recorded as painter, teacher and draftsperson.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1857
Franklin Brownell was born on 27 July 1857.
1946
Franklin Brownell died at Ottawa.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New Bedford.
Birth place
Ottawa.
Death place
Collections
Collections
• National Gallery of Canada • Winnipeg Art Gallery • Musée d’Orsay
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Franklin Brownell”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q27891395: Franklin Brownell
General reference · Wikidata
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Franklin Brownell studied at School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Académie Julian. He trained under Tony Robert-Fleury, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Léon Bonnat. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
Franklin Brownell worked in painting. He belonged to Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and Ontario Society of Artists. Brownell received Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Franklin Brownell is
National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and Musée d'art de Joliette
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,792 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Frank O'MearaArtist
- Frank PatonArtist
- Frank WallerArtist
- Frank Weston BensonArtist
- Franklin C. WatkinsArtist
- Franklin CarmichaelArtist
- Frans BadensArtist
- Frans BeeldemakerArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Franklin Brownell?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.