Places of the heart

🔍 Ozias Leduc's family house, early 20th century.

An artist surrounded by apple trees

The Leduc ancestors were among the very first settlers in this area of the parish of Saint-Hilaire. Ozias' great-grandfather, François Leduc, settled in 1800 at the foot of the mountain. The house has remained in the family from generation to generation.

At its origins, and like many rural houses of the 19th century, the family house was built using a log construction technique. Its roof is covered with cedar shingles and its walls with vertical planks. A recent restoration brought it back to its original state.

Leduc's project to build a bigger house, in which he wanted to set up a larger workshop, began in 1916. Construction stretched over many years because of the artist's procrastination and his limited financial means. Unfortunately, Leduc will lack the funds to complete construction of his new house.

The 1930s were difficult years for Leduc. The economic crisis, family problems and his wife's illness were trying times for the artist. In 1937, in addition to a disastrous apple harvest, commissions for church art and other paintings were scarce. In April of the following year, he agrees to the purchase of the houses and surrounding land by his brother Ulric. Although Leduc used on occasion the studio of the bigger house from the 1920s until the mid-1940s, he ended his days of artistic creation in the smaller Correlieu studio.