The tangled forest depicted in this charming work by Frank Johnston shows us a small sun-dappled corner of Waterworks Park in Toronto. The park’s name was changed to Sherwood Park by the City of Toronto in 1920 and it is now a 16.2 hectare park in the heart of the city, but from 1912 until its expansion in the 1920s it was a small, forested area set aside around the North Toronto waterworks and pumphouse. The forest there still contains the lineage of trees of the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Forest: eastern white pine, American beech, both red and white oak, sugar maple and eastern hemlock. This variety of growth contributes to Johnston’s vivid palette of greens, which is brightened by spring sunlight and accentuated by the colour of blossoming shrubs in the undergrowth, contrasted by the dark brown, almost black bark of the pines. Water Works Park, Sherwood Street, Toronto is a lush jewel of a painting and an intriguing glimpse into Toronto’s past.