In the years between 1885 and 1890, Renoir revised and revived the classical subject matter of the female nude set within a pastoral landscape. He returned repeatedly to this arcadian subject and it came to represent the embodiment of his late work. Renoir travelled to Italy in 1881 to study Roman sculpture and the work of Renaissance artists. He was inspired by their sculptural and sensuous handling of this motif and the tradition of depicting his subject unaware of being watched which derives from ancient Greek myths such as Diana and Actaeon.

During a later visit to the Prado in Madrid, Renoir encountered Titian’s Danaë and the Shower of Gold; the ingenuous manipulation of oil paint to render skin tones in this work had a profound impact on Renoir’s handling of colour and texture. He was fascinated by Titian’s sfumato technique allowing tones and colours to shade gradually into one another and very clearly adopted this in his own work. He reported to Ambroise Vollard of his travels: ‘Titian has everything. First, mystery; then depth [...]. I have really lived a second life through the pleasure I have had from the work of the master’ (quoted in A. Vollard, Renoir: An Intimate Record, New York, 1925, p. 62).

Renoir’s appreciation of the Old Masters and his use of art historical allusion were central to his artistic vision, but his subjects also remain emphatically his own. In the present work he masterfully fuses a Classical subject matter with a modern Impressionist palette and brushwork. The soft and subtle tonality of skin tone contrasts with the animated and spirited brushstrokes that depict the surrounding verdant landscape. The predominantly soft pink flesh tones are set against the greens of the background, making them appear more vibrant. Like many of his fellow Impressionist painters, Renoir preferred painting en plein air enabling a direct and vivacious approach to his immediate surroundings. The present work is a beautiful demonstration of Renoir’s ability to fuse his deep art historical knowledge with technical virtuosity and reinterpret the female nude as a subject matter for modern life.