An accomplished portraitist, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté is distinguished as much by his portraits as by his landscapes of Arthabaska. From the beginning, he showed a particular interest in elderly models, particularly peasants whose marked faces reflect a life of work. It seems to pay true homage to the first settlers who shaped the province of Quebec, by idealizing them and giving them a particular nobility.
Back in Canada, Suzor-Coté chose Father Esdras Cyr, a pioneer who cleared the Bois-Francs region, as his model. From 1908, he produced a series of works – oils, pastels and charcoal – representing this old man. In a letter to Alfred Laliberté, Suzor-Coté confided: “Canadian peasants do not pose willingly, they have to be paid dearly, and even then, they prefer to work in the fields. » The portraits of Father Cyr also proved profitable for the artist. Paul Rainville reports Cyr's words: “It's not fair, M'sieu Coté, you give me thirty sous and a packet of tobacco for my portrait, and it seems that you sell it for two, three hundred piastres. You'll have to pay me more. » - From and translated , Suzor-Coté, Lumière et matière, Lacroix, Laurier, page 230. 

Unlike his pastel or charcoal works where the portrait was isolated, Suzor-Coté this time places his model inside a house, surrounded by furniture specific to the colonists. It includes Chambly chairs, typical of rural Quebec homes, as well as other elements evoking the daily life of pioneers.