After Saint Vincent de Paul met Saint Francis de Sales in Paris, he exclaimed "How good God must be, since the bishop of Geneva is so good!" Here we see the good bishop surrounded by the simple people who lovingly called him "father," (and he was glad they called him that rather than the customary titles used with bishops). The glow of the purple shoulder cape in Bonnard's canvas aptly conveys the beauty of the holiness of the office, which is most clear when the cape rests on the shoulders of one so good and holy.