06/29/2004: Unveiling of the restored painting, Saint Peter brandishing the keys of Paradise by Naphtali-Octave Rochon.
The painting by Naphtali-Octave Rochon depicting Saint Peter brandishing the keys to paradise. Created at the end of the 19th century, it was restored thanks to a donation from Mr. Marc Renaud, whose grandfather had participated in the decoration of the church between 1900 and 1914.
« At the end of the 19e century, young artists from the École des Métiers de Montréal occasionally went to Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands to carry out church decoration and religious art work.
The students, Meloche, Renaud and Rochon went to the Islands in the summer of 1888 on the ship SS Beaver, owned by Robert J. Leslie. They then carried out the interior decoration of the first Saint-Pierre church in L’Étang-du-Nord.
One of the members of this group, Naphtali-Octave Rochon painted, among others, a painting of Saint-Pierre, surname of the parish, guardian of the kingdom. The composition of the canvas shows a full-length, life-size Saint Peter, brandishing the keys of Paradise to the sky with his right hand and holding the Bible in his left hand. The Tables of the Law and the accessories of the First Pope are placed at his feet. In the background, we can see ancient pagan Rome alongside new Christian Rome.
The work of NO Rochon before the restoration in 2003. Provenance: Photo by the restorer of the painting, Mr. Carol Poulin, reprinted in Renaud, Marc, T.-X. Renaud, Church decorator and painter, ed. Carte Blanche, Outremont, 2006, p. 41.
The work is an oil on canvas. Its dimensions are 7 feet high by 4 feet wide. It is signed: NO Rochon, Montreal, 1888.
According to Mr. Marc Renaud, author of a book on his grandfather, ‘T.-X. Renaud, church decorator and painter’ (p. 41), the interior decoration of the Saint-Pierre church executed by the Meloche, Renaud and Rochon team would have completely disappeared with the various works carried out during the expansion. church in 1900. Only the painting of Saint-Pierre would have been preserved.
The work was exhibited in the choir of the church, on the wall behind the high altar, until 1969. The painting thus dominated the choir and the nave.
Following the arrangements made for the liturgical renewal of Vatican II, the painting by Napthalie-Octave Rochon was removed from the choir. It is then stored in various more or less healthy places for several years. As a result of these poor storage conditions, the canvas shrinks, the paint flakes and the colors fade. The painting was in very poor condition when it was placed back on the wall behind the pulpit in 1992, during restoration work after the church was classified as a cultural property.
In 2002, Mr. Marc Renaud, visiting the Islands, would have identified this master’s painting. He would have informed the president of the factory council of the richness of his discovery and the importance of having the Rochon painting restored.
Mr. Marc Renaud, grandson of Toussaint Xénophon Renaud, allowed the Saint-Pierre parish to learn more about the artists who decorated our church. Thanks to Mr. Renaud and his $5,000 donation which he gave to the factory, restoration work could be undertaken to restore Rochon’s work.
The restoration work was entrusted in 2003 to Mr. Carol Poulin, a restorer based in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. To restore the painting to its original luster and preserve it for years to come, the restorer first wetted the canvas to enlarge it. He then spread it out, then mounted it on a new canvas. Finally, he glued all the flaking paint particles together with beeswax. Thanks to this restoration, almost 80% of the original painting was saved.
The painting is today exhibited on one of the walls of the choir. It overlooks the baptismal font, to the left of the pulpit. » – virtualmuseum.ca
