Notre Dame, Montreal

C.W. Jefferys' notes about this picture from The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Volume 2

Richard Dillon was the proprietor of a hotel on the south-west corner of St. James Street and the Place d'Armes in Montreal. It was very popular from about 1790 to 1815. Dillon was an amateur artist, and painted panoramas, and several views of Montreal, which have considerable historic value.

The illustration showing the old and new churches (the latter the present existing building) gives an excellent idea of their relative positions. As may be seen, the old church stood in the middle of Notre Dame Street, opposite the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the wall of which is shown on the lower right of the picture.

Georges Delfosse (1869-1939), the painter of this picture and of that of Nelson's Column, was an accomplished French-Canadian artist who depicted a large number of the old streets and buildings of Montreal. His paintings are admirable in composition and suffused with light and colour.