Masterworks Foundation collection has already caught the attention of Ottawa Citizen writer Paul Gessell, who laments the fact that Canada's capital will not be among the cities included in the exhibition's extended tour.

"There are few galleries in the Ottawa area that can offer the kind of secure, climate-controlled space needed for valuable paintings. And those few places tend to be booked up years in advance,'' Gessell writes.

He does, however, console himself with the supposition that Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, who has one watercolour in the exhibition, "would doubtlessly be happy to miss frigid Ottawa on this Canadian tour'', and notes that her husband, also an art lover, helped to found the National Gallery of Canada.

The Masterworks touring exhibition, entitled From Bermuda Palms to Northern Pines, will include works by Homer, Georgia O'Keefe, French cubist Albert Gleizes and Princess Louise, and certain to increase awareness of and generate further interest in the Island.

The exhibition tour begins at the University of Toronto Art Centre on March 15, and other stops include London, Ontario, and Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.