Leech, an Irish painter, went to France to study French art. While he was there he contracted Typhus - a bacterial infection that can cause fever and delirium. He was nursed back to health at a hospital staffed by nuns in Brittany, and it inspired him for this painting.

Nuns in a walled convent wearing wedding gowns, as was custom of the time when they took their final vows on the day they became full nuns. The vibrant atmosphere of the pure nuns surrounded by nature alive with surprising hints of color in each paint stroke.

The strokes rarely overlap, meaning he planned it very carefully.