O-8229

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken

Portrait of Speaker Peter Milliken

That Peter Milliken was suited to be Speaker seemed foreordained, as the Ontario lawyer had, as a teenager, subscribed to Hansard, the official transcript of Parliament. He was first elected Speaker in 2001, and his term of 3,776 days in the role remains the longest for a Speaker in Parliament. He was the only Speaker to oversee four Parliaments, and only the second opposition member elected to the role. Since Confederation, Speakers have had to decide tie votes 10 times, and on half those occasions Milliken was Speaker. He retired from politics in 2011, and Paul Wyse painted his portrait the following year.

Paul Wyse

Osgoode, Ontario artist Paul Wyse’s commissions include a custom Steinway piano, on which he recreated the original paintings by Viktor Hartmann that inspired Mussorgsky’s piano suite Pictures At An Exhibition. Wyse himself is a world-class pianist, and has performed in august venues such as Avery Fischer Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. His eclectic list of portrait subjects includes Prime Minister Paul Martin and House Speaker Peter Milliken, any many others including author Toni Morrison and pop star Billy Joel.