Manly Edward MacDonald (1889–1971) was a Canadian painter celebrated for his evocative portrayals of rural Ontario life. Born in Point Anne, near Belleville, Ontario, MacDonald studied at the Ontario College of Art, the Albright School of Art in Buffalo, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His early career included service as an official war artist during the First World War, where he documented agricultural contributions to the war effort. After the war, MacDonald devoted himself to painting en plein air, developing an Impressionistic style characterized by lively brushwork, warm palettes, and a focus on the daily rhythms of farming and village life.

Over the course of his career, MacDonald became widely known as the “interpreter of Old Ontario,” producing hundreds of paintings that celebrated the province’s pastoral traditions—horse-drawn ploughs, sugar bush scenes, rustic barns, and river valleys in every season. His art resonated with audiences at home and abroad, leading to exhibitions at prestigious venues such as the Tate Gallery in London (1938) and the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Ontario Society of Artists, MacDonald remained a dedicated chronicler of Ontario heritage until his death in 1971. Today, his works are cherished both for their artistic merit and their role in preserving a visual history of Canada’s rural past.