A rare painting by Winston Churchill sold at auction by the Hudson’s Bay Company rekindles attention on the historical and collectible value of art linked to the great British and Canadian history.
How did the auction sale of the Hudson’s Bay collection come about?
When the Hudson’s Bay Company, originally founded as a fur company and later transformed into a large Canadian department store chain, declared bankruptcy in March 2025, a vast art collection was left in limbo.
The company owned approximately 1,700 works and 2,700 artifacts, accumulated over centuries of activity. With the bankruptcy, the dispersal was only a matter of time.
The liquidation took concrete form on November 19, 2025, when 27 paintings from the retailer’s assets came to the podium of the Canadian auction house Heffel.
All lots far exceeded estimates, confirming a strong interest from collectors in this chapter of Canadian commercial and colonial history.
Why did Churchill’s painting of Marrakech captivate the auction?
The absolute star of the evening was an impressionistic painting of a street in Marrakech signed by Winston Churchill.
The work led the sale with a realization of 1.5 million dollars, more than three times the announced minimum estimate. According to Heffel, the canvas attracted «widespread media and collector attention» due to its historical importance and direct provenance from the HBC.
Churchill created Marrakech around 1935, during a stay in Morocco undertaken at a time of political difficulty, after Stanley Baldwin had denied him a government position.
In this trip, which he himself described as a painter’s holiday, he was fascinated by the city, which he dubbed «The Paris of the Sahara». The canvas, with its play of light and shadow, testifies to this enchantment with the North African landscape.
Churchill returned to Marrakech in 1943, alongside Franklin Roosevelt, immediately after the Casablanca Conference. On that occasion, he gifted the U.S. president a painting with the city’s great mosque against the backdrop of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. Later, in 1956, Churchill’s wife, Clementine, gifted the canvas now auctioned to the Hudson’s Bay Company.
What other historical works shone at the auction?
Besides Churchill’s painting, the catalog featured an important late 19th-century urban view. Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith, a painter born in London and known primarily for dramatic views of the Rocky Mountains commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, was featured with Lights of a City Street (1894).
The work, depicting the intersection of Yonge and King in Toronto, fetched 691,250 dollars, more than six times the minimum estimate.
The scene, dense with pedestrian and atmospheric traffic, recalls in composition and perspective cut Rue de Paris, temps de pluie (1877) by Gustave Caillebotte, but amplifies the bustling sensation of the street. In this way, it provides a vivid snapshot of Toronto’s urban life at the end of the 19th century, in stark contrast to the artist’s more famous mountain landscape views.
What role did William von Moll Berczy play in the sale?
Another significant section of the session was dedicated to the German-born painter William von Moll Berczy. Two of his canvases revolve around the Battle of Trafalgar, the naval clash that prevented Napoleon from invading Great Britain. The first, Battle of Trafalgar (1807–08), depicts the moment after the victory and totaled 133,250 dollars.
In the painting, the sky is ablaze with fires, the masts of a French ship lie in the water, and British vessels converge, forming a ring. The work shares the same dimensions as Rear Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson (1807–08), a portrait of the commander who orchestrated the victory, shown standing on a rock while waves and war rage behind him. This second painting reached 121,250 dollars, highlighting the interest in subjects related to British naval history.
How did the market and the auction house react?
At the end of the evening, the auction house’s vice president, Robert Heffel, described the sale as «truly extraordinary». According to his official statement, «the HBC Collection, along with many other exceptional works, captured the hearts of collectors across the country and around the world». From the opening of the bids, the room remained animated by a constant energy.
Heffel himself emphasized how the proposed lots, spanning different moments in art history, consistently exceeded expectations. This confirms a growing interest in works with strong historical and institutional ties, compared to more traditional sales of contemporary private collections.
What is the history of the Hudson’s Bay Company between trade and colonization?
The Hudson’s Bay Company obtained a royal charter from Charles II in 1670, acquiring the exclusive right to exploit the fur trade in the vast interior regions of Canada. For centuries, it managed forts and trading posts, also assuming quasi-governmental responsibilities before Canadian independence.
This history is closely intertwined with the exploitation of indigenous populations, a controversial aspect that is now the subject of increasing critical reinterpretation.
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the company transformed into a chain of department stores, with outlets across the country. During the 20th century, it also published annual calendars illustrated with paintings dedicated to the highlights of its corporate history.
Several of these images appeared in the Heffel catalog, highlighting how commercial communication could translate into genuine artistic production.
Which works from the historical calendars marked the auction?
Among the paintings related to the HBC calendars, the work by Frank Hans Johnston Discovery of the Coppermine River by Samuel Hearne, from the 1923 calendar, stood out.
This work, celebrating the exploration of the Coppermine River, reached 85,250 dollars. Another significant result came from Hudson’s Bay Company York Boats at Norway House by Walter Joseph Phillips, sold for 157,250 dollars.
A more recent contribution, but highly recognizable in Canadian visual culture, was Bay Watch (2011) by Charles Pachter. The painting features a moose figure by a lake, an image that encapsulates an almost iconic idea of the national landscape. The work realized 181,250 dollars, confirming the market’s appetite for subjects capable of combining irony and Canadian identity.
What auction records were set?
The sale also set new records for some artists. For Charles Comfort, the work Barnston and Ballantyne at Tadoussac (1846) reached 571,250 dollars, marking a historical high for the artist. A similar result concerned Adam Sherriff, for whom Chief Trader Archibald McDonald Descending the Fraser (1828) was awarded at 361,250 dollars.
Overall, the prices obtained indicate a solid demand for works intertwining economic history, exploration, and the construction of the colonial myth. Compared to other sales dedicated to Canadian painting, the presence of a strong narrative thread linked to the HBC helped strengthen the appeal of the lots.
What will happen to the rest of the collection and the royal charter?
The HBC collection includes a total of approximately 1,700 works of art and about 2,700 historical objects. They will be sold through a series of auctions scheduled until the end of the year, following a strategy of gradual market introduction.
In this way, the aim is to maximize the interest of national and international buyers, avoiding an excessive supply concentrated in a single event.
The most contested asset remains the royal charter with which Charles II authorized the creation of the company in 1670. Several Canadian millionaires are reportedly competing to purchase the document, with the goal of subsequently donating it to a public institution.
This scenario highlights the delicate balance between the market value of such historical testimonies and their relevance to the national collective memory.
The article was first published on October 17, 2025, and updated on November 20, 2025, at 9:50, to include the complete auction results and better contextualize the dispersal of the HBC collection in the current market phase.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
