The Telegram - Chance meeting…

Donna Meaney, left, looks on after artist Louise Kermode, middle, was announced the winner of The Kingston Prize by the national portraiture competition's chairperson, Jason Donville, right, at the event's gala in Toronto on Nov. 14, 2025. Meaney, who is originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, was the model for the Ontario artist's piece called Madonna in a Tulip Chair. Photo by Michael Reyes/ Coopershoots

Madonna in a Tulip Chair: Chance meeting with NL connection leads to national portrait competition win

Donna Meaney, once the subject for Mary and Christopher Pratt paintings, has added another chapter to her Canadian art history story

By Gary Kean  •  The Telegram

Published Nov 24, 2025

Louise Kermode was having lunch at Gallery Grill on the University of Toronto campus and could tell her dining partner had a good rapport with their server.

The artist, based in Waterloo, Ont., was working as an administrative assistant at the university, and was eating with Elizabeth Legge, head of the university’s Department of Art History at the time.

When the server walked away from their table, Legge asked Kermode, “Do you know who that is?’

Kermode had no idea who the woman was. 

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