William Armstrong was a Canadian artist and one of the early professional artists of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. A number of his watercolour landscapes of the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

 may be found in collections such as the Art Gallery of Ontario

Art Gallery of Ontario

Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...

, the National Gallery of Canada

National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...

, and the Thunder Bay Historical Museum

Thunder Bay Historical Museum

The Thunder Bay Historical Museum is located in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is operated by the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, incorporated in 1972 as the successor to the Thunder Bay Historical Society....

. He painted the watercolour The Arrival of the Prince of Wales at Toronto (1860) which hangs in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

. Armstrong depicted grim working conditions inside Victorian Toronto's industrial plants in his pastel drawing Toronto Rolling Mills (1864), which forms part of the Toronto Public Library

Toronto Public Library

Toronto Public Library is a public library system based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public library system in Canada and in 2008, had averaged a higher...

's J. Ross Robertson Collection. His watercolour painting, Thunder Cape, Lake Superior (1867), hangs in the National Archives of Canada.