Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Fresco

Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Fresco

Description of the elements depicted in the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Fresco. 

Basic concept of the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Fresco

Description of depicted elemenrs / by MURALE CRÉATION

The architectural composition comprises a mosaic frieze and five arches supported by columns with symbolic capitals: maple leaf, fleur-de-lys, vine leaf, scallop shell and corn cobs. Within the arches are five separate paintings depicting phases of the history of the municipality of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré since its foundation.

WEST WALL

Foreground achitecture comprises the coat of arms and the motto of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

Decorated mosaic-like frieze above the arch and bas relief of carved wood:

• Louis Guimont, first miraculously cured person, with three stones

Painting I: Inside the arch: Life in Sept-Crans, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré’s backcountry

• Chapel-school of Sept-Crans;
• Hunters and redemptorists showing the rewards of trapping;
• Sugar shack;
• Buckthorn shrub;
• Monsieur Labrecque, last resident of Sept-Crans, with his team of oxen;
• Winter scene in the style of a coloured postcard

SOUTH WALL

Architecture: frieze above the arches

• Centre: First statue of Sainte Anne, brought by Monseigneur-de-Laval during a pilgrimage, in 1662;
• Each end: Angel carved by Louis Jobin;
• From left to right: Alphonse Paré carving his famous statue of Champlain (a tip of the hat to the 400th anniversary of Québec City), with sculptor Louis Jobin at his side, Pope John Paul II, Mgr. de Laval, Alfred Pampalon, Cardinal Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, a Sainte-Anne helper with a person in a wheelchair.

Painting II: Inside the arch: Avenue Royale as a country road in colonial times

• First chapel;
• Ancestral homes, Norman style, one with a mansard roof, one made of wood;
• Residents meeting pilgrims;
• Way of the Cross;
• Dog team transporting sacks of grain and a milk can; Ploughed field;
• Spring scene in the style of a coloured postcard

Painting III: Inside the arch: Economic activities of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

• Avenue Royale and its boardwalks. Résidents, visitors and tourists, children playing along the street, man holding the Stanley Coup (praying for a win), other man carrying a Victor V gramophone (an allusion to SAB’s Musée du gramophone);
• Signs evoking hotels and popular places of business of bygone times; Musée Royal and Musée Antique;
• Sanatorium-Hotel (Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Hospital);
• First Basilica in the background;
• Summer scene in the style of a coloured postcard.

Painting IV : Inside the arch: Religious activities of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

• First Basilica;
• First cemetary;
• Reception building for the Cyclorama of Jerusalem;
• Groups of persons of various origins representing pilgrims in a procession, visitors and tourists;
• Souvenir vendors on the sidewalks;
• Kremlin: Château Renvoyzé;
• Steam locomotive;
• Autumn scene in the style of a coloured postcard

EAST WALL

Foreground architecture including the coat of arms of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

Decorated mosaic-like frieze above the arch and bas relief of carved wood:

• Three sailors miraculously saved from drowning.

Painting V: Inside the arch: Open view of the River

• Wharf of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and a crowd of pilgrims and tourists: Pierre Lemoine d’Iberville, Marquis de Tracy, a sailor;
• Steam boat;
• Schooner and French ship in the distance on the river;
• Amerindians arriving in their birchbark canoes to pay homage to Sainte Anne;
• Geese flying in a V formation.

Information: Nathaly Lessard or Marie-Chantal Lachance, MURALE CRÉATION