Sold for: $313,250

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by Sadie Gairns, Toronto
Acquired as a gift from the above by Jean Orr (née Deas), Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto

EXHIBITED
Hart House, University of Toronto, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Sir Frederick Banting, February 13 - March 1, 1943

Famous for his discovery of insulin in 1921, Sir Frederick Banting was also a keen artist, and this remarkable painting represents the synthesis of those two lives. During the same period as his diabetes research, Banting met Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson, and joined Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club, which cultivated his interest in painting. Here Banting depicts the laboratory where he and Charles Best made their discovery, located then at the University of Toronto. The work was painted in situ, and Banting notes on the frame it was executed on a late winter’s night in February of 1925. Less than two years earlier, he, along with Best, had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The original owner of this exceptional piece of Canadian history was Sadie Gairns, one of Banting’s laboratory assistants. Later, it was gifted to her close friend and fellow Banting lab assistant Jean Orr.

The Buyer’s Premium for this Lot will be donated by Heffel to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, an extra-departmental unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, whose primary objective is advancing diabetes research, education and patient care.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars