Untitled (Grazing Sheep)

Charles Macdonald Manly was born in September 1855 in Englefield Green, Surrey, England, the son of Rev. John G. Manly, a Methodist minister. His family emigrated to Canada when he was young, finally settling in Toronto in 1876. His father served in various places in Canada, Jamaica, England, and Ireland before establishing the family permanently in Toronto, where he died in 1908.

After working in lithography for some years in Canada, Manly returned to England in the late 1880s to study at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London with Andrew Maclure. He then attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, Ireland from 1881 to 1884, studying under Edwin Lyme. Following his studies, he worked briefly as a lithographer in London before returning to Toronto, where he helped found the Toronto Art Students' League in 1886.

The Toronto Art Students' League promoted drawing from life and Canadian subjects, and Manly served as one of its founding members until the organization disbanded in 1904. His work appeared in almost all of the League Calendars published from 1893 to 1904. From 1894 to 1906, he went on sketching trips with Frederick Henry Brigden in Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. In 1901, he first visited Conestogo, Ontario, returning each year to sketch in the area until 1918, when he purchased property in the district.

In 1904, Manly joined the staff of the Central Ontario School of Art and Design (later the Ontario College of Art) and remained there until his death in 1924. Among his students was C.W. Jefferys. He became a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1876 and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1890. He served as President of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1903 and was a founding member of the Graphic Arts Club in 1903. He also belonged to the Associated Watercolour Painters, Toronto, formed in 1912.

Manly worked in various media including lithography, watercolors, oils, pastels, pen and ink, and charcoal. He exhibited regularly with the Royal Canadian Academy from 1890 to 1922 and with the Art Association of Montreal from 1889 to 1918. He won Honorable Mention at the Pan American Exposition in 1901 and the Jessie Dow Prize at the Montreal Spring Exhibition in 1911. The National Gallery of Canada purchased his oil painting "Evening in the Conestogo" in 1909. Between 1906 and 1910, he produced at least thirty paintings for Warwick Bros. & Rutter, Limited of Toronto for reproduction as postcards.

Charles Macdonald Manly died on April 3, 1924, in Toronto at age 68 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. He never married and was survived by two sisters, Miss S.R. Manly and Miss Laura Manly, and a cousin, Dr. C.M. Foster of Toronto. His estate included bequests of artworks to various individuals, including six paintings to Fred Brigden and his cottage property in Conestogo to his pupil Jerine Wells Kinton. Following his death, many of his drawings were donated to the Ontario College of Art, and his work is represented in collections including the National Gallery of Canada and the Ontario Government Legislative Building.