Fernand Renard, Later maquette proposal for the formal greenhouse, diluted oils on canvas, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA.
The decoration of the greenhouse must have constituted a pivotal moment in Renard’s career as an artist. From that time forward, he would concentrate on painting still lifes, mostly arrangements of fruit, but also flowers and shells, many of which recall the objects in the trompe l’oeil at Oak Spring. During the following decade or so, various exhibitions of his work were held, primarily in New York City. In 1961, and therefore just one year after he completed his commission for Bunny, the Carstairs Gallery in New York organized a show of about twenty of his paintings. In the catalog, Renard described himself as a “painter of reality” and stated “the necessity for painting to depict the truth.” The Hammer Galleries in New York presented several exhibitions of his work, first in 1968 and then in 1972, 1973, and 1975. 87
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In the archives of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation are a few letters sent by Renard to his patron. Of particular interest is a letter posted from Viviers on July 15, 1960, in which Renard thanks Bunny for telephoning him during his stay in Paris and mentions some mutual “American friends,” in particular a certain “Johnny” (Schlumberger) and his sister Jacqueline. In a second, more candid letter sent on December 18, 1961, from 10, rue Fargeau in Paris, Renard informs Bunny that his father is in poor health, and then expresses his fear that she was perhaps disappointed with his work, along with his sincere regret that this might be so. However their contact continued until at least 1978, and he was also an acquaintance during the 1960s and 1970s of Bunny’s daughter Eliza Lloyd Moore and her then husband Derry Moore. 88
th e de c or ati on of th e g re e n h ou se
