Oil On Canvas Depicting The Banks Of The Alpes Mancelles, Signed By Mary Renard, 1902

A significant oil-on-canvas painting in an antique Montparnasse frame with a scroll motif, depicting a serene and luminous view of a river—most likely the Sarthe near Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei—with wooded banks, a raft or ferry on the water, and a small path along the edge of the woods. The painting is signed “Mary Renard” and dated 1902; on the left, the number 329 is visible—likely a number assigned for an exhibition....

A landscape painter and curator at the Alençon Museum, the son of farmers, he lost his parents at a young age, fought in the War of 1870, and later settled in Alençon.

He exhibited at the Salon as early as 1880 with *Autumn at Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei*, was admitted to the Salon des Artistes Français in 1890, and became a full member in 1894. He was a student of Paul Saïn. He chose the landscapes of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei—a village nicknamed the “Barbizon of the Alpes Mancelles”—as the subject of his paintings. He is the most frequently featured painter at the Auberge des Peintres there, with 17 out of 28 panels dedicated to his work. He served as curator of the Alençon museums in 1910 and was the founding president of the Société des Amis des Arts. Today, his works can be found at the Musée de la Dentelle et des Beaux-Arts in Alençon.