This sword, although detachable, was an integral part of the statue commissioned from artist Louis-Philippe Hébert to honour the memory of Laviolette and mark the 250th anniversary of the city of Trois-Rivières. It was installed in 1884.

When the statue was destroyed in October 1919, someone took care to remove the sword, and it was entrusted to our museum.

As for the artist, Louis-Philippe Hébert, he was born in 1850 in Sainte-Sophie-d’Halifax (today Sainte-Sophie-de-Mégantic), Quebec. He left for Rome as a Zouave in September 1869. He returned to the country in the fall of 1870, then set off again, this time for the United States to learn English. Around 1873, he was introduced to sculpture by Adolphe Rho of Bécancour. Hébert then became an apprentice with Napoléon Bourassa, a prominent Montreal artist. He stayed there for six years.

He got married in Montreal in 1879.

An artist, sculptor, and teacher, Hébert produced several monuments dedicated to the memory of famous Canadian figures.

He died in 1917 in Westmount, Quebec.

Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1978 124 A