Lot Essay
One of a series of views of the city of Montreal produced by Duncan from the 1830s to the 1850s, most of which were commissioned by John Samuel McCord. The present watercolour was possibly the model for the lithograph by Gauci, printed by M. & H. Hahnart and published by John Armour in Montreal and E. Gambart & Co. in London in 1854 (but see also for a similar but later view by Duncan, C. Graham, Mont Royal - Ville Marie, Early Plans and Views of Montreal, Montreal, 1992, p.137, no. 97: 'This view looks east from the western slopes of Mount Royal towards the city and St. Helen's Island. In fact, the watercolour was painted from the garden of Temple Grove, the house of the McCord family ... The row of Lombardy poplars on the right marks the boundary of the Priest's Farm, which eventually became the site of the Grand Séminaire...')