2 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the skill and the technique of the older tradition and yet to transform 

 and transfuse it with the inspiration of Canadian skies and Canadian 

 air. The work is for the most part that of young men, and has not 

 yet attained its zenith; but it is a true and vigorous expression of 

 Canadian life and Canadian art; racy of the soil, yet adhering to the 

 great humanistic traditions of Europe. 



I am not comparing them with their elder brothers, of whom Sir 

 John spoke, many of whom are still in the full vigour of their inspira- 

 tion ; but I speak of them to show that the work wrought and being 

 wrought by O'Brien and Horatio Walker and Dickson Patterson and 

 a score of others has found worthy successors to whom, when the time 

 comes, they may pass on the torch. 



Toronto also possesses the Royal Ontario Museum, founded by 

 the Provincial Government, and largely supported by private help. 

 With its five divisions of Archaeology, Biology, Geology, Mineralogy 

 and Palaeontology, it is superior to any such collection in the Empire 

 outside of London, and in certain lines is worthy to rank as the younger 

 brother of the British Museum or of the Metropolitan Museum in 

 New York. The Dominion Gallery here in Ottawa, begun in Sir John's 

 time, has now grown to its present noble proportions. The Canadian 

 war pictures, done in part by Canadian artists, and eventually destined 

 to be taken out of the cold storage in which they lie at present, are the 

 embodiment of a very noble and grandiose conception, alike of the 

 artists, of the Government and of private munificence. Here it is 

 fitting that I pay a just tribute to our Canadian Lorenzo de Medici, 

 banker, statesman and patron of art and letters. Sir Edmund Walker, 

 without whose aid neither Art Gallery of Toronto, nor Art Gallery of 

 Ottawa, nor Art Museum of Toronto, nor our collection of Canadian 

 war paintings would be what they are. 



In architecture too, wherein Sir John Bourinot was compelled to 

 sing small, Canada has gone ahead. Fine as were the Parliament 

 Buildings of Canada in his day, they are finer now. In Toronto a 

 school of younger men, of whom Mr. Henry Sproatt is the chief, has 

 adopted the Collegiate Gothic of the Tudors to our Canadian climate, 

 and in Burwash Hall and Hart House has co-operated with the wise 

 generosity of the Masseys to erect buildings superior to any of the 

 modern English work in Oxford or Cambridge. 



In general, Canada has awakened — or at least is awakening — to a 

 real architectural sense. Our houses are commodious, seemly and 

 dignified; so too are our banks and our hotels; even our railway- 

 stations show a glimmer; and such cities as Toronto and Ottawa and 

 Victoria show dawnings of an appreciation of the kindred art of town 

 planning. 



