This charcoal portrait depicting the woman whom the artist described as his “muse” was produced on August 15, 1928. The artist signed “Rod.”

The woman who would become his wife a year later, Jeanne L’Archevêque, is drawn here with her head tilted slightly forward. She is focused on reading or a manual task, or simply lost in thought.

This work speaks volumes about the intensity of the respect and love that the artist had for this young woman.

She was the daughter of a notary and lived in Montreal. She studied with the sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. She had a gift for the organ and literature. She was 23 years old when she started writing short articles, under the pseudonym Colombe, for the parish newsletter of her native parish, Saint-Pierre-Apôtre de Montréal, until 1926.

In 1932, Jeanne L’Archevêque began a career as a journalist and poet, first with Le Bien public, then for Le Droit and Le Canada Français. She then moved on to writing the women’s pages in La Terre de chez nous. Then, she contributed to various periodicals on a regular basis: Le Foyer rural, La Famille, Paysana, Le Bulletin des agriculteurs, Le Courrier Sud, and others.

She also published books, primarily illustrated by her husband: Écrin, Cantilènes, Offrande, Mater, and Dans mon jardin.

Jeanne L’Archevêque died in August 1998 in Nicolet.

As for the artist, Rodolphe Duguay (1891-1973), he met Jeanne through Armand L’Archevêque. Duguay married Jeanne on June 26, 1929, a few months before the New York Stock Exchange crash, which would lead to a major global economic crisis. The Duguays would not be spared. However, they had a happy marriage and six children. Several of them inherited the artistic talents of their parents.

Donation from Father Albert Tessier
Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1977 1 D