Frances Anne Hopkins

Frances Anne (Beechey) Hopkins (1838-1918) brought the authenticity of experience to her painting. Born in England, the granddaughter of the noted portraitist Sir William Beechey, she married Edward Martin Hopkins in 1858. For about a decade Hopkins traveled the age-old routes of Canada, accompanying her husband, who was private secretary to the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Although she had little formal art training, Hopkins employed her natural talent in sketching and painting scenes of the North American waters and forests and the voyageurs who traversed them. Travel such as this gave her the authoritative, first hand knowledge of the subjects she painted so ably. The Hopkins family returned in 1870 to live permanently in England, where Frances Anne died in 1918. Her paintings continue to enrich and illuminate art collections in her adopted Canada. Minnesota Historical Society Press © 1990 by the Minnesota Historical Society

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