TORONTO -- Two paintings by Canada's Sir Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, are to be sold at Bonhams Travel and Exploration sale in London on Wednesday.

The paintings -- "Georgian Bay, Ontario" and "Canadian Rockies, Alberta" -- are estimated to sell for between $17,000 and $26,000 each.

Banting won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 for the discovery of the lifesaving treatment for diabetes, sharing the award with J.J.R. Macleod.

Banting grew interested in painting in about 1921 and became friends with the Group of Seven artists.

The University of Toronto scientist shared their love of rugged Canadian scenery, and the works in the Bonhams sale are typical examples of his landscapes.

Banting died in February 1941 in a Newfoundland air disaster while serving as a Second World War medical services liaison officer.