Oil painting
81.6 x 65 cm

This painting of Mgr François de Laval appears to be the only portrait of the bishop made in New France during his lifetime. He was 77 years old at the time. He is wearing a reliquary pectoral cross on a cord around his neck.

Soon after he arrived in New France in 1690 Jacques Leblond de Latour a painter and sculptor began teaching at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers de Saint-Joachim. He became a cleric in 1696. He was ordained as priest and appointed parish priest of Baie-Saint-Paul in 1706. The portrait of Mgr de Laval and that of Mgr de Saint-Vallier at the Hôpital général de Québec are attributed to Jacques Leblond de Latour by Gérard Morisset.