This fine work is a study for the Place Ville Marie l, one of four outstanding large format paintings inspired by the development of Place Ville Marie in Montreal.

Place Ville Marie was a very special place, in part, because of the large plaza where people could linger about, lunch in the summer months, people watch, or congregate in more organised fashions. Philip Surrey, ever the observer of others, was inspired by the opportunities for composition there. This led to an important series of four large paintings with different perspectives of Place Ville Marie as the stage. His patron, John G. McConnell and John’s brother, Wilson G. McConnell, each owned one of this exceptional series. As one should expect with Surrey, in the development of the paintings there is a significant body of work in different mediums and in various formats Our study is an excellent example of his process. That Surrey signed the work is an indication by him that the drawing is a finished product and stands on its own as a work of art.