The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Quebec Museum of Fine Arts) is displaying a collection of impressionist works by British artists during the time of Queen Victoria.
The Paintings from the Reign of Victoria exhibition is in town until September 6, 2010 and introduces around 60 works from the Royal Holloway collection in London. The numerous canvasses offer scenes of urban and rural life, landscapes and portraits and even studies of animal life.
The collection owes its existence to Thomas Holloway who, in the late nineteenth century, built a college for young women on the outskirts of London.
From 1881 to 1883, Holloway worked to decorate the walls of Royal Holloway College. He managed to get hold of these pictures quickly while most painters of the period were mostly still unknown.
The entire collection, put together in less than two years, is now worth nearly $17 million.
The Holloway collection has always delighted visitors because it is unpredictable and provides plenty of surprises, both for art lovers and the simply curious.