In February 1921, eight paintings commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook for the Canadian War Memorials Fund during the First World War were hung in the Senate Chamber on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The paintings are fixed to the east and west walls at a height of approximately seven meters. Ranging in size from 2. 7 x 3.6 m to 3.0 x 4.5 m, they have formed an imposing backdrop to the Senate's deliberations ever since the first meeting was held in the new Chamber on 14 February 1921.
The eight paintings are; The Watch on the Rhine (The Last Phase) by Sir William Rothenstein; A Mobile Veterinary Unit in France by Algernon Talmage; Arras. the Dead City by James Kerr-Lawson; On Leave by Clare Atwood; Canadian Railway Construction by Leonard Richmond; Returning to the Reconquered Land by Sir George Clausen; Landing of the First Canadian Division at SaintNazaire, 1915, by Edgar Bundy; and The Cloth Hall, Ypres by James Kerr-Lawson.
In the 1960s, the paintings were given a thorough cleaning and revarnishing. The work was performed again in the centre of the Senate Chamber, between 4 July and 28 August 1998, while the Senate was in recess. During this eight week period, the eight oversize paintings had to be taken down, examined, treated, photographed and reinstalled, allowing only one week per painting. The total cost for the restoration and professional photography was $66,000. The rededication of the newly-restored paintings took place on 3 November 1998.
