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Light classical piano music
The Lieutenant Governor's Suite at Queen's Park
is used for dozens of official functions each year.
In addition to hosting temporary art exhibits,
the rooms here are also home
to numerous works from Ontario's art collection.
Hi, I'm Lani Wilson,
curator of the Government of Ontario art collection.
One of the notable features of the suite
are portraits of each of the province's lieutenant governors
dating back to its first, John Graves Simcoe.
To protect the art from the effects
of light, humidity and temperature,
we've made a few adjustments.
All of the windows are lined with
a protective ultraviolet coating.
We've also positioned the artwork
so it's not in direct sunlight at any time.
In addition to these efforts,
the older portraits
sometimes require individual conservation.
For example, this portrait of Sir Oliver Mowat,
Ontario's third premier
and eighth lieutenant governor,
painted in 1903, was showing its age.
With paintings like this, we use ultra violet
and infrared light to see old layers of varnish
and to examine large drying cracks in the paint.
Professional conservators then remove the old varnish
and fill in the cracks to create a smoother
and more stable surface.
Interestingly, this painting has historically
been attributed to 19th century portrait artist
John Wycliffe Lowes Forester
but upon further examination with modern technology
the signature of A.D. Patterson
was found in the upper left-hand corner
Come and see for yourself.
Visit the Lieutenant Governor's Suite
by booking a tour of the Ontario Legislature
at www.ontla.on.ca
Find out more about the Government of Ontario's
art collection at Ontario.ca/ Archives.