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Arrival of the “Filles du Roy” in Québec

Colour reproduction of a watercolour showing seven women dressed in colourful frocks disembarking. The women are seen in profile on the right half of the painting, and are facing two men wearing official dress. The woman at the front of the group is curtseying before them. The first of the two men, Jean Talon, is decked in finery. He has a sword tucked in his belt, and is wearing a wig and holding a large, feather-adorned hat. The other man, François de Laval, is wearing a prelate’s robe and a burgundy stole. Around his neck is a large golden cross. The other figures in the scene include several bewigged gentlemen and a soldier. In the foreground stands the stone wall of a wharf and the lowers steps of a stone staircase.

Source: Arrival of the Brides, Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, prior to 1927, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1996-371-1

Artist Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale depicts here a scene marking the arrival of the “Filles du Roy” in Québec in 1667. They are being welcomed by the intendant Jean Talon and by François de Laval, then–vicar apostolic of New France, who is pictured on the left.