Neighboring the Vauban tower and the carcasses of boats from the construction site, the chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Rocamadour is located on the Sillon, that closes the port of Camaret. With its small belfry, discouraged by an English cannonball during the battle of 1694, and its long low roof, it appears in many of Cottet's paintings.
The artist who has been living in Camaret since 1886 is struck by the fire, which largely destroyed the chapel built in the 16th century and founded in the 12th century, serving as a stopover for the pilgrims of Notre-Dame-de-Rocamadour in Quercy. The chapel housed many votive offerings, models of boats offered by sailors who had survived a sinking after imploring their patron saint Notre-Dame-de-Rocamadour.
The scene is set at dawn: the fire, declared in the night, devoured the roof and the furniture of the chapel before being extinguished around 5 o'clock in the morning. The miraculous statue of Notre-Dame-de-Rocamadour is entirely calcined. In the still-smoky sky, women turn around the still-hot ruins, as in an atoning procession.