Basket Seller in Winter, 1860

Dominion Gallery, Montreal. Galerie Claude Lafitte, Montreal. Private Collection, Toronto.

J. Russell Harper, “Krieghoff”, Toronto, 1979, pages 59 and 129.

Writing of Krieghoff's time in Quebec City between 1853 and 1863, Harper informs that the years were the artist's “happiest and most productive”, Quebec City and the surrounding countryside providing an abundance of subjects for his canvases. With Hurons living northwest of Quebec in the village of Lorette, Krieghoff continued to “paint small canvases of single Indian figures. Women in black and blankets wander up hills laden with great festoons of baskets, or carry cradle boards as they pick their way through craggy mounds of ice cakes crossing the St. Lawrence in front of the city. They are reminiscent of the women in the Montreal streets, but are infinitely more appealing as a result of increased detail and unsurpassed craftsmanship...These canvases were often dashed off with incredible rapidity when finances were low, but on other occasions the artist threw his heart into the work, painting single figures with care, pride of workmanship, and a more acute artistic sensibility.”