By Michel Rossignol
Between 1850 and 1950, many carpenters, artisans, artists, and other workers were involved in the construction and decoration of buildings in Lowertown. One of them was Toussaint-Xénophon Renaud (1860-1946). T.-X. Renaud was a Montreal artist who in the early 1900s earned his living by painting religious scenes in churches and other buildings in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario as well as other locations such as New York City. He had so many contracts in Ottawa and the rest of Ontario that at one point he had an office at 192 Friel Street.
In Lowertown, he did paintings in St. Anne’s Church (1907) and St. Brigid’s Church (1908) and later in the chapel of the General Hospital (1928) and the St. Charles residence for the elderly on Bruyère Street (1928). Like other artists, some of his works were painted over decades later during renovations, or destroyed during demolition (St Charles).
At St. Brigid’s Church, Renaud’s five painted murals depicted the Birth of Christ, the Descent from the Cross, the Shrouded Cross, Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus and the Immaculate Conception. The murals were covered with cream-coloured paint during renovations in 1968. The building’s exterior and interior were designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 1981 and in 1989, three of Renaud’s paintings were restored. Two others were uncovered by restoration in 2004.
Marc Renaud, the painter’s grandson gifted a commemorative plaque about the murals to St. Brigid’s in 1999, and in 2006 included some images in his book titled T.-X. Renaud, Décorateur d’églises et artiste peintre. Some photos are available on the website txrenaud.com (in French).