Alphonse Jongers (1872-1945)

He was born in the Basque Country in France and studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts under Delaunay and Gustave Moreau. He continued his studies in Madrid for two years and in 1895 at the Prado Museum met John Singer Sargent. Returning with him to England they worked together with others of his group on the murals at the Boston Library. From England he first came to Canada in 1896 when he was asked to do the portrait of the Governor-General, the Marquess of Aberdeen. He returned to France when he was commissioned by the Duc de Gramont to paint his portrait before settling in New York City where he was elected to the Society of American Artists. He was awarded the silver medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. In 1906, he received the bronze medal at the Salon of French Artists then taking the silver medal in 1911 before being made a Member of the Légion d'Honneur in 1912. The museums of Lille, Liège, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the Galerie des Offices in Florence, Italy, all bought and displayed his paintings.

From 1924, he made his home at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal and became a close friend of one of its directors, Elwood Hosmer. It was a matter of debate whether Jongers was, "best known around the hotel for his imposing series of amours or for his superb portraits". His works in Montreal were displayed at the salons of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and his subjects included: Isidor Straus, the co-owner of Macy's Department Store in New York who went down with his wife on the Titanic; U.S. Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox; Sir Vincent Meredith, President of the Bank of Montreal; Mrs Mary Cabot (Higginson) Sears of Boston; Maisie Cadwell, of New York & Newport; Theodorus Bailey Woolsey, President of the New York Hospital; WWI Fighter Ace, Air Marshall Billy Bishop; Jules-Napoleon Hamel; William Hope; Sir Charles Gordon; and, James Morgan. He died at the Ritz when his obituary read, "his gay outlook on life, his rich sense of humor, his witty, and tolerant comments on men and affairs made him a welcome and attractive figure in social and artistic circles here and wherever he went".