By LOUISA WOODVILLE

By LOUISA WOODVILLE

Arundel Newspapers Staff Writer

(Editor’s note: Philanthropist Paul Mellon recent allowed Arundel Newspapers a rare interview at his home in Northern Fauquier County.)

Strip Paul Mellon of his wealth, power and privilege, and what you have left is an ordinary man with extraordinary assets: sincerity, generosity, and a charming ability to put people at ease.

At 84 years of age, the gray-haired, blue-eyed Mellon exudes a quiet confidence that draws you to him. You want to sit down and talk to Paul Mellon. You want to clasp his hand and say, “I love that painting, too.” When Mellon speaks about the things he loves the most—horses and art—you start planning a trip to the Belmont, N.Y., races.

Paul Mellon and his wife Bunny, the former Rachel Lambert (Lloyd), live at Oak Spring, one of six farms that comprise the 4,000-acre Rokeby in Upperville, Fauquier County. On one hand Rokeby is the quintessential working farm, with a sizeable herd of cattle, a dairy and horses all over the place.

On the other hand, you know you’re light years away from the com fields of Iowa. Perhaps it’s the inconspicuous guards who wave you on with a smile as you turn into the drive, or Rokeby’s signature fencing: the miles of chestnut rails criss-crossing stone walls. Herds of broodmares and yearlings, grazing on rolling hills which tumble back over the horizon, add to the scene.

Continuing down the drive, the glassed-in pool house on the right reminds you of Paxton’s Crystal Palace on a much more modest scale —all light and air, gardens and glass.

By the time you reach the sprawling, unpretentious manor house, you feel privileged just to be inside the gates. And then Mellon himself opens the door, as though it was his idea that you come.

What does Paul Mellon do, exactly? Nomenclatures are hard to fit to him. Horseman doesn’t touch upon the passion he holds toward the sport, be it racing stakes’ winners or hunting with the Piedmont hounds, where he was joint-master from 1954-58.

Art collector doesn’t convey the depth of knowledge he has about each and every painting that hangs on his walls. Nor does the word philanthropist quite encompass the generosity behind the staggering number of paintings, sculptures, drawings and books he has bequeathed to so many institutions, from the Yale Center for British Art and the National Gallery in Washington to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Mellon’s house bursts with paintings and drawings, the kind you want to put in your pocketbook and take back home. Photographs of his family jostle for space alongside Munnings and Degases on the wall.

“That’s my mother when she was first married and was living in Pittsburgh. I think that was taken near our house,” says Mellon, pointing to a photograph of a woman on a rearing horse. Mellon's mother, Nora Me