PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)

  2. Result
  3. PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)
  4. Lot n° 19 
Lot n° 19
Go to lot
Estimation :
450000 - 650000 EUR
PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)
Enfant assis sur une chaise, vers 1895 Oil on canvas, signed lower right 40 x 27,7 cm - 15 3/4 x 10 7/8 in. PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR Enfant assis sur une chaise Throughout his life, Pierre-Auguste Renoir showed a definite interest in the human model, and his earliest documented paintings are portraits, such as his submission to the Salon of 1865, which is none other than the portrait of Alfred Sisley's father, now exhibited in the Musée d'Orsay. This is how the painter from Essoyes was the only one of the Impressionists to make portraits a source of income before devoting himself to them, out of pure delight. At the end of the 1870s, when the commercial failure of the Impressionist exhibitions forced Renoir to return to the official Salon, his clientele consisted of a small group of patrons, mostly Jewish and Protestant bankers, who commissioned family portraits from him. It was a success, stimulated by the prices charged by him, which were much lower than those of the usual portraitists of the haute bourgeoisie, such as Léon Bonnat, Paul Baudry or Carolus-Duran. However, the lure of money was far from being the only driving force behind the painter, who showed a real predisposition and a certain taste for this genre. Indeed, Renoir was a master in the art of capturing the physiognomy of his models, to whom he gave free rein in terms of clothing and attitude. However, his real talent lays in the fact that he never made major concessions to his clients: “this is how many portraits became Renoir’s work before all else, sometimes even without the knowledge of their models” (Anne Distel, 1993). In the 1890s, Renoir enjoyed relative financial ease and commissioned works were no longer necessary for his subsistence. From then on, he more readily took his close family circle as models and portraiture gradually became a more personal activity. His sons regularly passed under his brush: Pierre (born in 1885), Jean (born in 1894) and above all Claude, known as “Coco” (born in 1901), all three captured in attitudes taken from life or in the intimacy of daily life like in Gabrielle et Jean (1895, Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, coll. Walter Guillaume) or La leçon de lecture de Coco (ca. 1906-1907, Merion, Barnes Foundation). Enfant assis sur une chaise dates from the mid-1890s. At this time, Renoir abandoned the dry, linear style of his Ingresque period in favour of a fluid, vibrant brushwork that featured a rich palette of white and pink worked in half-tones, as in his Jeunes filles au piano (1892, Paris, Musée d’Orsay). The background of the painting, freely brushed in a fluid material, no longer constitutes a sensitive environment but rather a sketchy backdrop – luminous and contrasting – in front of which the figure, slightly sulky, poses in perfect profile. This oil painting is one of a long series of evocations of youth that occupy an important place in Renoir’s work and attest to his deep understanding of his young models, whether they be isolated figures (Julie Manet, 1887, Paris, Musée d’Orsay; Irène Cahen d’Anvers, 1880, Zurich, Bührle Foundation), family groups (Madame Charpentier et ses enfants, 1878, New York, Metropolitan Museum) or genre scenes involving an adult and a child ( La promenade, c. 1906, Merion, Barnes Foundation). Illustrated in 1918 in the fundamental Tableaux, Pastels & Dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Précédé d’une lettre de Renoir, the painting was acquired, according to family tradition, by the father of its present owners from the famous dealer Ambroise Vollard.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue