↗ View this article in the original PDF newsletter
Henry Bowyer Lane (b. Corfu, 1817 – d. Victoria , Australia, 1878) was a trained architect related by marriage to the Boulton family of Toronto who came to the city in 1841. He lived here until 1847 designing such structures as the Churches of St. George the Martyr, Holy Trinity, Little Trinity, the west wing and new centre for Osgoode Hall and the new City Hall of 1845. In 1847 he returned to England and in 1852 emigrated to Australia. The watercolour of the Fort at Toronto came to the auction rooms of Lawrence of Crewkerne, Somerset, in 1977, offered by a direct line of the Lane family. It was purchased by a London dealer. The photographer who had prepared the sale catalogue kindly provided a black and white print of the image for use by Canadian scholars who have published it occasionally over the last twenty years. The original watercolour seems to have been acquired from the dealer by Peter Winkworth shortly thereafter.
In June 2008 Library and Archives Canada acquired the original watercolour as well as more than 700 other artworks and publications not acquired from the Winkworth Estate in the original major acquisition of 2002. The work is offered here in unconserved condition so the readers of Fife & Drum may take pleasure in the reappearance of one more of a small number of views of the fort before the widespread use of photography to record such important landmarks.
Original printed pages
