John William Beatty (1869–1941) was a central figure in early 20th-century Canadian painting, admired as both an artist and a teacher who influenced a generation of younger painters. In Winter on the Don (c. 1930), he captures a familiar subject: the Don Valley, where farmhouses and open fields still shaped the landscape before Toronto’s rapid urban growth.

Beatty was a master of colour. Even in this winter scene, his browns are alive with warmth, while sudden bursts of blue cut sharply across the snow. In the distance, the trees glow with golden, burgundy, and mauve tones, as if autumn still lingers beneath the snowfall. Here at the Don Valley, Beatty found himself a rustic escape within reach of the city, a place where he could capture the “country” without traveling far. In doing so, he preserved a vision of a landscape that no longer exists, a piece of important Canadian history.

As a respected member of the Ontario Society of Artists, he was closely connected with the Group of Seven: he taught some of its members at the Ontario College of Art, exhibited with them, and was respected as part of the broader artistic circle that influenced and supported their vision. This oil on panel measures 10.5 by 14 inches and is signed on the bottom left.