Mercury and Argus. Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. Published in Photographic Selections by William Notman, Vol. I

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) was a British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist, and printmaker; his work is regarded as a Romantic preface to Impressionism. Mercury and Argus was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836, then at the British Institution in 1840. By 1845 it belonged to Joseph Gillot, who sold it to Charles Birch. John Naylor bought it from Birch, who then sold it in 1863 to Agnew's Gallery. It was then auctioned by  Christie's in 1887, and acquired by Laurie. By 1888 it belonged to Sir Donald Alexander Smith, Lord Strathcona, one of the financiers of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Stirling Palmer Howard (1891-1959) sold it in 1951 through Agnew's Gallery to the National Gallery of Canada, the present owner.