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Thomas Mower Martin was born in London England in 1838. He originally sought a career in the military but after attending exhibitions at the Royal Academy he decided to switch to an artistic career. However, after the death of both of his parents he was forced to obtain work. Although he received some artistic training in England at several institutions he is thought to be mostly self-taught.
At the age of 24 he came to Canada in 1862 with his young wife, originally settling in the Muskoka region on 100 acres of land. However the couple quickly realized that the climate was too cold and farming unsuitable and they moved to York Mills. From there, Thomas would commute by train into Toronto where he opened an art studio. It was a struggle to gain recognition for his work but he gradually began to earn attention. In 1872, along with Marmaduke Matthews, R.F. Gagen, and John Fraser, he established the Ontario Society of Artists.
In the late 1870’s, Thomas Mower Martin befriended John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, the current Governor General of Canada and his wife Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and the Marchioness of Lorne. The Marchioness was a painter herself and took an interest in his work. Along with the Princess’ philanthropic interest in the arts this led to the formation of the Royal Canadian Academy of which Thomas Mower Martin was a charter member.
Thomas Mower Martin travelled widely searching for inspiration for his paintings. In 1887 he made his first trip to Western Canada under the sponsorship of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and made the trip over 10 times over the next decade. He was one of the first artists to capture the splendor of the Rocky Mountains and bring those images East. Later in life he would look back on this time in his life as his Golden Age. He believed in painting what he saw and not an idolized view, and one of his favorite sayings was “Put your colours out on your palette and paint what you see”.
Martin published two books of his writings and paintings in the late 1880’s and early 1890’s. These books may have helped him to land one of his most prestigious positions, as the illustrator of Wilfred Campbell’s 1907 book “Canada”. Seventy-seven works from his original watercolours helped to illustrate Campbell’s text. This led to further illustrations for A. R. Moncrieff's book “Kew Gardens” in 1908 and J. T. Bealby's book “Canada” in 1909. That same year he became a member of the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists.
One of Thomas Mower Martin’s best internationally received works is “The Untouched Wilderness”, painted for Queen Victoria in 1882, which now hangs in Windsor Castle.