Huge Canadian art collection comes home

Thousands of paintings, drawings and prints that illustrate Canadian history have a new home in the National Archives in Hull, Que.

The government bought the collection from Canadian collector and scholar Peter Winkworth, who lives in London, for $5.8 million.

"This kind of material simply does not come on the market any more," said national archivist Ian Wilson. "It was an extraordinary opportunity."

"The images allow us to visualize as words cannot," said Carleton University history professor Bruce Elliot.

Winkworth, 72, has been collecting Canadian art for about 50 years and actively working on repatriating it since the 1970s.

His collection includes 700 watercolours, 3,300 prints and eight oil paintings as well as albums and bound volumes of prints, watercolours and drawings. It covers 400 years, but many of the works date from the 19th century.

Winkworth's friend Roy Heenan said Winkworth wanted the works preserved as a collection. "This is unique and he wanted to see it kept together," Heenan said.

As well as buying the collection, the government has put up $800,000 to preserve and manage it. The Archives already has some items displayed on its Web site, and hopes to put up most of the rest within a year.

The pictures include ships in Halifax, 1879, Hamilton, Ont., 1860, and a prairie schooner on the Cariboo Road, B.C., about 1887, by noted artist Edward Roper.