This etching illustrates the exterior of the walls of the Ursuline Monastery of Quebec City.

The Ursulines are one of the founding communities of New France. From the arrival of Sisters Marie de l’Incarnation, Marie de Saint-Joseph, and Cécile de Sainte-Croix in Quebec City in 1639, accompanied by Marie-Madeleine de Chauvigny de La Peltrie, their patron, a first school located in Quebec City’s Lower Town welcomed young European and Indigenous girls. This was the very first school for girls in North America.

Since 1642, the Ursuline Monastery of Quebec City could be found in the heart of Old Quebec. Expanded several times, it also suffered a major fire, and the affected wings were rebuilt. The architectural complex has great historical and heritage value, and it was classified by the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications in 2011.

As for the artist, Simone Hudon, she was born in Quebec City in 1905. She attended the École des Ursulines de Québec, then enrolled in the École des beaux-arts de Québec, from which she graduated in 1930. She taught engraving, perspective, interior design, and illustration for nearly fifteen years. In 1945, she moved to Montreal and became a book illustrator. That same year, she married Henri Beaulac. She passed away in 1984.

Donation from the artist
Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1985 964 E