BRINGING HERITAGE HOME EXHIBITION UNTIL SEPTEMBER 30
From Windsor Castle to Kitchener - two paintings come home
From Windsor Castle to Kitchener - two paintings come home
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Homer Watson, The Last Day of the Drought, oil on canvas, 1881
Credit: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012
Credit: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012
Homer Watson, The Pioneer Mill, oil on canvas, 1880
Credit: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012
Credit: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012
by Helen Hall
Kitchener Citizen
June 7, 2012
Sandu Sindile called it “a shot in the dark.”
In June of 2009, the curator of the Homer Watson House & Gallery in Kitchener sent an inquiry to the general email address for The Royal Collection of artwork owned by Queen Elizabeth II. He asked if they would consider allowing two pieces painted by Watson in the 1880s, and purchased for Queen Victoria, to come home to his gallery for an exhibition.
“To my surprise, they said yes,” Sindile said in an interview recalling the events leading up to the opening of the exhibition Bringing Heritage Home: The Royal Collection, now on at the Homer Watson House & Gallery until September 30. This exhibition coincides with Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee celebrations.
However, it wasn’t quite that easy. Sindile said there were many emails and phone calls that went back and forth, as well as paperwork to be filled out and approved, before they agreed to loan the pieces to the Kitchener gallery. Neither painting had left Windsor Castle since they were purchased over 130 years ago.
Sindile said two crates came from England at the end of April accompanied by a courier, a conservator with the Royal Collection. She had checked the condition of the paintings at Windsor Castle before packing them in the crates and travelling with them.
Once in Kitchener, the crates sat in the gallery for 24 hours before being opened. Another report was done on their condition before hanging them in the gallery. The conservator will come back to accompany the paintings home at the end of the exhibition.
Watson was born in 1855 and worked in many trades in the Doon area of Kitchener. He had a passion for the arts and was a self-taught artist. Watson painted the rural Grand River countryside for most of his artistic life.
Having no professional instruction, he reluctantly entered the The Pioneer Mill into a prestigious juried exhibition in Ottawa. He was declared the winner and the Governor General of Canada the Marquis of Lorne purchased the piece for Queen Victoria’s personal art collection. In 1881, the Marquis gave Queen Victoria a second Watson painting called The Last Day of the Drought.
The Bringing Heritage Home exhibition also includes five canvasses and two sketches on loan from Canada’s National Gallery, and Watson memorabilia such as photographs and art materials.
Sindile found the two preparatory sketches for The Pioneer Mill and The Last Day of the Drought in the National Gallery’s collection of Watson sketchbooks, and they are displayed at the exhibit with the matching painting.
* * *
The Homer Watson House & Gallery is located at 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener. The Bringing Heritage Home exhibit will be on display until September 30.
Kitchener Citizen
June 7, 2012
Sandu Sindile called it “a shot in the dark.”
In June of 2009, the curator of the Homer Watson House & Gallery in Kitchener sent an inquiry to the general email address for The Royal Collection of artwork owned by Queen Elizabeth II. He asked if they would consider allowing two pieces painted by Watson in the 1880s, and purchased for Queen Victoria, to come home to his gallery for an exhibition.
“To my surprise, they said yes,” Sindile said in an interview recalling the events leading up to the opening of the exhibition Bringing Heritage Home: The Royal Collection, now on at the Homer Watson House & Gallery until September 30. This exhibition coincides with Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee celebrations.
However, it wasn’t quite that easy. Sindile said there were many emails and phone calls that went back and forth, as well as paperwork to be filled out and approved, before they agreed to loan the pieces to the Kitchener gallery. Neither painting had left Windsor Castle since they were purchased over 130 years ago.
Sindile said two crates came from England at the end of April accompanied by a courier, a conservator with the Royal Collection. She had checked the condition of the paintings at Windsor Castle before packing them in the crates and travelling with them.
Once in Kitchener, the crates sat in the gallery for 24 hours before being opened. Another report was done on their condition before hanging them in the gallery. The conservator will come back to accompany the paintings home at the end of the exhibition.
Watson was born in 1855 and worked in many trades in the Doon area of Kitchener. He had a passion for the arts and was a self-taught artist. Watson painted the rural Grand River countryside for most of his artistic life.
Having no professional instruction, he reluctantly entered the The Pioneer Mill into a prestigious juried exhibition in Ottawa. He was declared the winner and the Governor General of Canada the Marquis of Lorne purchased the piece for Queen Victoria’s personal art collection. In 1881, the Marquis gave Queen Victoria a second Watson painting called The Last Day of the Drought.
The Bringing Heritage Home exhibition also includes five canvasses and two sketches on loan from Canada’s National Gallery, and Watson memorabilia such as photographs and art materials.
Sindile found the two preparatory sketches for The Pioneer Mill and The Last Day of the Drought in the National Gallery’s collection of Watson sketchbooks, and they are displayed at the exhibit with the matching painting.
* * *
The Homer Watson House & Gallery is located at 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener. The Bringing Heritage Home exhibit will be on display until September 30.