| The death and suffering endured by the immigrants held in this quarantine station were in stark contrast to the natural beauty of the island of Grosse Île. The station was established in 1832 on the island, downstream from Québec City, to control the cholera epidemic that was raging at the time. In 1847, due to a typhus epidemic, 8,000 Irish immigrants on their way to Canada were buried at sea and a further 4,500 bodies were removed on arrival at Grosse Île. The artist, Henri Delattre (1801-1876), was born in France and made two extended trips to North America, one in the 1830s and the other at the end of the 1840s. Oil on canvas
C-120285 |