Lot 142
  • 142

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir
  • Femme au corsage rouge
  • Signed Renoir (lower left)

  • Oil on canvas
  • 15 3/4 by 12 3/8 in.
  • 40 by 31.4 cm

Provenance

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in October 1901)
Alexandre Berthier, Prince de Wagram, Paris (acquired from the above in August 1905 and sold: New York, November 23, 1914)
Galerie Paul Pétridès, Paris
Lucien Lefevre-Poinet, Paris
Acquavella Galleries, New York
Acquired from the above in 1965

Condition

This work is in good condition. For the complete condition report prepared by Simon Parkes Art Conservation please contact the Impressionist & Modern Art Department at +1 (212) 606 – 7360.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Painted in 1893, Femme au corsage rouge is a wonderful example of Renoir’s acclaimed ability to capture perfectly the poise and serenity of his sitters. In the present work, the artist renders the young woman in a striking palette of contrasting reds and greens in the gentle forms that characterize his best work.

Renoir regarded his depictions of women central to his oeuvre. Whilst he responded in his portraits directly to the looks and character of a particular sitter, he made his models conform to ideal types of femininity—be it fashionable Parisienne, woman in the home, mother or classical nude.

The artist’s ability to evoke charm and beauty made Renoir one of the most eminent portraitists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Reviewing Renoir’s paintings at an exhibition in 1885, Emile Verhaeren described "an utterly new vision, a quite unexpected interpretation of reality to solicit our imagination. Nothing is fresher, more alive… than these bodies and faces as he portrays them. Where have they come from, those light and vibrating tones that caress arms and necks and shoulders, and give a sensation of soft flesh… The backgrounds are suffusions of air and light; they are vague because they must not distract us" (Emile Verhaeren quoted in Nicholas Wadley, ed., Renoir. A Retrospective, New York, 1987, pp. 166-67).

Whilst Renoir’s work of the early 1880s had been defined by his return to a classically-inspired and more formal style that reasserted the importance of the drawn line in his work, by 1890 he had returned to a warmer tone and more delicate handling.