Cornelius David Krieghoff (1815 - 1872)
Bilking the Toll
1860
oil on canvas
43.70 X 64.00 cm
Collection of The Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift of W.F. Alloway through The Winnipeg Foundation
In the early 19th century tollgates were established on major routes into Montreal and Quebec City to fund road maintenance. The largely francophone rural population resented paying the fees to the anglophone government, and young habitants (as the French-speaking people were sometimes called) in particular sometimes tried to run the gates. This painting by a non-francophone artist makes light of the situation and depicts the habitants as mischievous yet harmless. Such stereotypical images confirmed the misguided impressions that many anglophones held of habitants as simple and frivolous people, ignoring the fact that they contended with serious social and political issues.
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