A prolific painter, he became one of Canada’s most famous artists of his generation exhibiting numerous times with the ‘Ontario Society of Artists’ and with the ‘Royal Canadian Academy of Arts’.  

A self-taught artist from a family of stonemasons and clearly inspired by Joshua Reynolds, Whale’s portraits often showed the sitter looking directly out of the canvas with the figure highlighted against a dark or shadowed background.

His landscapes are often framed by nearby trees or contain small, middle distance, figures creating an immediate perspective.  His paintings are an invaluable pictorial history of 19th century Canada and his works are amongst the most frequently reproduced, notably those of the ‘Niagara Falls’ (below left), ‘View of Hamilton’ (below middle) and ‘Bathers’ (below right).