Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist in August 1913)
Jean d'Alayer, Paris (by descent from the above)
Sam Salz, Inc., New York (acquired from the above)
Mr & Mrs Alexander M. Lewyt, New York (acquired from the above on 3rd December 1953)
Private Collection

New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Exhibition of Masterpieces by Renoir, 1935, no. 16
Palm Beach, Society of the Four Arts, The Post-Impressionists and Their Followers, 1949, no. 13
New York, Paul Rosenberg & Co., The Last Twenty Years of Renoir's Life, 1954, no. 11
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Paintings from Private Collections, 1955, no. 129
New York, Wildenstein, Renoir, 1958, no. 66, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Wildenstein, Renoir, 1969, no. 89, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Wildenstein, Renoir, The Gentle Rebel, 1974, no. 59

Gustave Coquiot, Renoir, Paris, 1925, illustrated opposite p. 96
Claude Roger Marx, Renoir, Paris, 1937, illustrated p. 173
Rosamund Frost, Pierre Auguste Renoir, New York, 1944, illustrated p. 45 (as dating from 1914)
'The Museum of Modern Art: Paintings from Private Collections', in The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, Summer 1955, illustrated p. 10
Alfred Werner, 'Renoir's Daimon: Commemorative Show at Wildenstein', in Arts, New York, April 1969, illustrated p. 40
John House, 'Renoir and the Earthly Paradise', in The Oxford Journal, Oxford, 1985, pp. 21 & 24
Charles F. Stuckey, untitled essay in 'Renoir: A Symposium', in Art in America, New York, March 1986, illustrated p. 109
Sophie Monneret, Renoir, London, 1990, no. 21, illustrated p. 155

In the last years of his life, Renoir, far away from Paris and living in the south of France, was able to devote himself to the recreation of an idyllic world largely undisturbed by references to modernity. The female nude had figured prominently in his work from his earliest years. In treatment, it had ranged from the high Impressionism of the Torse de femme au soleil, 1876 (fig.1) to the icy perfection of the Grandes Baigneuses of 1887. After 1900, it became his most important theme, one that enabled him to unite responsiveness to the physical presence of his models, while demonstrating his awareness of historical continuity. Increasingly, he looked back to the art of the ancient world and began to address specifically mythological themes such as The Judgment of Paris.

Only one year before Baigneuse assise was painted, Julius Meier-Graefe referred to Renoir as 'a son of Delacroix and a grandson of Rubens' and indeed, the artist's references now were to Titian and Rubens rather than to Ingres as had been the case in the 1880s. In all likelihood, the model for the present work was Madeleine Bruno, who began working for Renoir in 1913. Through the eyes of Renoir, however, the young model became a goddess, not because of any attributes other than the grandeur of her form and the richness of the colouration with which he painted her. Always interested in questions of technique, Renoir showed astonishing mastery of a broad range of painterly effects in his late works. John House has noted that he was able to 'combine breadth with extreme delicacy of effect […. ]  At times he painted very thinly and with much medium over a white priming, particularly in his backgrounds, allowing the tone and texture of the canvas to show through, and creating effects almost like watercolour. His figures tend to be more thickly painted, but not with single layers of opaque colour; instead fine streaks of varied hue are built up, which create a varied, almost vibrating surface' (J. House in Renoir (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985-86, p. 278).

Particularly noteworthy in the present work is Renoir's use of multiple viewpoints to convey the sculptural presence of his model. More than ever before sculpture was on Renoir's mind at this moment.  At the suggestion of Ambroise Vollard, he began to conceive of some of his figures in three dimensions, using Richard Guino, a pupil of Maillol, to implement his ideas. Seated in profile, the back of the model would not normally be visible, but in this case Renoir has elided the two views, creating an effect that looks forward to the post-Cubist space of Picasso. Picasso was, in fact, a great admirer of Renoir, particularly the late work, and was later to own several examples, including Baigneuse assise dans un paysage, dite Eurydice of 1895-96. Although lacking the sensuality of Renoir, many of Picasso's great neo-classical nudes of the early 1920s are deeply indebted to him.