More than half of the remarkable print collection belonging to Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Dr. Jacqueline McClaran is entering the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) national collection.
Lucas or Jan van Doetechum after Pieter Bruegel I, Soldiers at Rest (Milites Requiescentes), c. 1555–57, from the set of 12 Large Landscapes, etching and engraving, 32 × 42.5 cm. Collection of Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Dr. Jacqueline McClaran. Photo: Denis Farley.
The two Montreal-based doctors are donating 258 Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts from the 16th and 17th centuries for the benefit of all Canadians. The Meakins-McClaran print collection of more than 450 works spans more than 500 years, from the 15th to the 20th century, and was patiently built up over four decades following an afternoon spent in a gallery full of Camille Pissarro prints at the Grand Palais in Paris. At present, it is the largest private collection of Northern European prints in Canada.
A large selection of the prints is currently on display in the exhibition The Collectors’ Cosmos. The Meakins-McClaran Print Collection, organized by the National Gallery of Canada and on view at the Gallery until November 14, 2021. The exhibition includes seven prints by Rembrandt, one of the most accomplished printmakers of all time.
It began modestly forty years ago with an attraction to Camille Pissarro’s masterful etchings, his experimentation with line and texture, and his profound empathy for his subjects. In time, their interest grew to include the great artists of northern European printmaking, such as Dürer and Rembrandt, and their focus naturally coalesced around Dutch and Flemish 16th- and 17th-century landscape and genre.
The exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada will reveal both the strength and breadth of the collection today, as well as the collectors’ love of the etched and engraved line and plate tone. The selection of prints will range from the German 15th century through the Dutch 17th century, to the 20th century in Europe and North America, and will include works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Hendrik Goltzius, Jusepe de Ribera, Jacob van Ruisdael, Jean-François Millet, and John James Audubon, among many others.
Susan Hudson, Jacqueline & Jonathan, 1987, etching, drypoint and aquatint; plate: 44.5 × 60 cm; sheet: 56.5 × 76 cm. Collection of Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Dr. Jacqueline McClaran. © Susan Hudson. Photo: NGC
Dr. Jonathan L. Meakins OC, MD, D.Sc.
As a youth, Dr. Jonathan Meakins recalls regular visits to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), where his appreciation of prints began – particularly after seeing Goya’s Disasters of War exhibition. This experience would be the foundation of a lifelong passion of collecting.
Dr. Meakins’ relationship with the MMFA would come full-circle, as years later, he would become a trustee and a member of their Acquisition Committee.
Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000, Dr. Jonathan Meakins’ medical career served him well. He’s worn many hats: Head of Surgery (McGill University Health Centre), Chair of Surgery (both at McGill University and University of Oxford), Nuffield Professor of Surgery (University of Oxford), and Professorial Fellow (Balliol College).
Dr. Meakins is presently a member of the Prints and Drawings Committee at the Art Gallery of Ontario, recently appointed to the Acquisitions Committee - International Art Before 1945 and Ancient Art at the MMFA, as well as the Director of the Art and Heritage Centre of the McGill University Health Centre.
When he’s not working on his education – as an M.A. student in Fine Arts at Concordia University – he enjoys playing tennis, golf and duplicate bridge.
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Dr. Jacqueline Cox McClaran B.Sc., MD, B.Th.
Dr. Jacqueline Cox McClaran has had a distinguished career in medicine. As the founder and first Director of the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging, Dr. McClaran also served as Director of Geriatric Medicine (Montreal General Hospital), Board Member (Canadian Council for Health Service Accreditation), Associate Medical Director (University of Oxford affiliated hospitals), Director of Faculty Development and Assistant Director of Clinical Studies (Oxford Medical School), and Lecturer in Medicine (Balliol College Oxford).
Outside of her career, Dr. McClaran’s interest in art – first sparked by Albrecht Dürer’s wood engravings in the Nuremberg Museum in the 60s – became a passion, which she shares with her husband, Dr. Meakins. To this day, they’ve acquired and built their very own collection of prints, many of which are displayed in their home. Dr. McClaran is the archivist of their collection.
Into her retirement, Dr. McClaran recently completed her Degree in Theology. She keeps busy with community service, church activities, golf, and she plays violin in her string quartet - which over the past year evolved into solo performances on Zoom.
The Collectors’ Cosmos: In Conversation with Dr. Meakins and Dr. McClaran:
CATALOGUE
The Collectors’ Cosmos:
The Meakins–McClaran Print Collection
This beautiful and fully illustrated catalogue takes us through Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Dr. Jacqueline McClaran’s collection’s history, which began forty years ago in Paris following an afternoon in a room full of prints by Camille Pissarro at the Grand Palais.
