The Early Bird Picks Up the Worm, 1869

The Early Bird Picks Up the Worm was painted by William Raphael in 1868 and reproduced as a chromolithograph, or full-colour print, the following year. Light-hearted but with an element of morality, the work draws on the well-known proverb about the early bird getting the worm. It is noteworthy not just as a reflection of the artist’s sense of humour but as a reminder of the interest in chromolithographic reproduction in Canada in the 1860s.

This painting appears to be a reworking of a similar piece by Raphael called The Rival Beggars, 1861. While he retained the composition of the earlier work, he altered the appearance of the man on the left, the shape of the door separating the figures, and the overall architectural context to make the dome of the Bonsecours Market visible in the distance. The tone of the piece has changed as well. In the reworked version, the man on the left wears a satisfied expression as he emerges from a house with a bag filled with food. The other man, also in search of food, cannot hide his disappointment as he realizes he’s arrived too late and the charity of the homeowners has likely already been exhausted.

In March 1869, Roberts & Reinbold, a high-quality Montreal printing studio, produced a chromolithograph of The Early Bird Picks Up the Worm. The work was immediately heralded in the press as a technical breakthrough surpassing all previous attempts in the field. The newspaper Le Pays was particularly effusive in its praise. “The artist, Mr. Reinhold, has given his painting all the vigour and depth of oil painting,” the paper reported. “Lovers of the fine arts among us should take pride in encouraging as much as possible this new art, which brings the productions of the great masters within everyone’s reach, and tends to popularize the love of beauty.”

At a price of just three dollars apiece, chromolithographs were affordable and made it possible for “many Canadian homes… to boast of oil-paintings which never did so before,” according to the Daily Witness. Collectors, artists, and critics alike saw the value in reproducing works in full colour with great accuracy. Among lithographers, Roberts & Reinhold stood out for their technical ingenuity and the quality of their creations. After becoming business partners in 1864, Rudolf Reinhold and William Roberts presented their work at many provincial exhibitions and won some awards.

While chromolithography ensured a democratization of art, the process was complex and required specialized know-how. The chromolithograph of The Early Bird Picks Up the Worm, for example, needed twenty-one progressive proofs, with each one adding colour to the image until it was complete. Two full sets of these proofs have been preserved at the National Gallery of Canada and the Château Ramezay museum in Montreal. They provide a better understanding of the chromolithographic technique and constitute an exceptional case study of how colour prints were made in Canada during the nineteenth century.  Generally, such series, which detail the stages in the reproduction process, have not been preserved, making these proofs particularly noteworthy in the history of Canadian art.