RICHET, Leon, (France, 1847-1907): Barbizon Landscape with Trail and Pond with Field and Clumps of Trees, OIL/Canvas, 32'' x 23 3/4'', original gilded liner, (the original massive gilded and carved frame was donated by the family some time ago to a local church), 38'' x 30 1/4''. This Leon Richet painting has been in the same family for over 100 years, and is now being offered for sale by its now fourth generation owner, a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida. The painting was originally purchased in the early 1900s by Levi Brown Renfrew and his wife Marjorie Wellington (Spaulding) Renfrew. Mr. Renfrew's father, James Renfrew, Jr., was one of the founders of the Renfrew Manufacturing Company in Adams, Massachusetts in 1866. The company produced gingham and other colored fabrics, and became famous for its red and white checkered tablecloths - the iconic picnic pattern still popular today. Renfrew Mfg. Co. was the area's largest employer for over sixty years, and to this day, the area where the mill was located is still referred to as the Village of Renfrew. L. Brown Renfrew and his wife Marjorie (Mayo - pronounced ''My-O'') raised their family in Haverhill, MA and retired to St. Petersburg, FL in 1923. Their home was in what is now the historic Old Northeast neighborhood, and they maintained a vacation home in Pass a Grille, FL. The Renfrews were very active in local civic and church activities, and upon Brown's death in 1935 The Christian Leader reported that, ''St. Petersburg, Florida recently suffered a great loss in the death of L. Brown Renfrew. a man of fine personal qualities. It was impossible to have even a chance acquaintance with Brown Renfrew and not have revealed the sincerity and power of his mind, and his innate kindness of heart.'' The Leon Richet painting passed to their son Alan Spaulding Renfrew and his wife, Norma Evelyn (Estes) Renfrew. Alan Renfrew passed away suddenly in 1942, but the painting hung in Norma's home (''Quaker Knoll'') in Connecticut, and later her home in Sedona, AZ, until she passed away in 1970. Her daughter, Charlotte, inherited the painting and it hung in her Tampa, Florida home for many years. Charlotte recently gave the painting to her daughter, who (coincidentally) lives one block east of Brown and Mayo Renfrew's home on 14th Avenue Northeast, which still stands. The family has decided that this painting is more deserving of a collector better able to appreciate its value and beauty, and in a position to display it in a manner more appropriate to its importance as an excellent example.
CONDITION: In original, as found condition, some light stretcher wear, several minor abrasions, several areas of minor fleck, small dime size puncture, needs cleaning.