Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on October 19, 1910)

M Duval-Fleury (acquired from the above on March 25, 1918)

Georges Bernheim, Paris

Mica Salabert (sold: Ader, Picard, Tajan, Paris, June 8, 1993, lot 151)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Cinquante Renoir choisis parmi les nus, les fleurs, les enfants, 1927

London, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Love, 2000, no. 9, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum & Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Monet and Renoir: Two Great Impressionist Trends, 2003-04, no. 65, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Julius Meier-Graefe, Renoir, Leipzig, 1929, no. 291, illustrated p. 360

Original canvas. There is a minor area of craqueleur in the green area to the right of the figure's shoulder, and a few specks of paint loss at the top of the figure's hair and some very minor surface abrasion along the figure's neck - all of which is barely perceptible. Across the center of the composition the horizontal stretcher marks are barely visible through the canvas. Under ultra-violet light, there is no evidence of retouching. Over all, this work is in excellent condition. Colors: The greens are lighter and the flesh tones are fresher and not as gray as they appear in the catalogue illustration.
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.

As a leading member of the Impressionists, Renoir was one of the few artists to rise to the challenge of reinvigorating the time-honored subject of the nude.  No other avant-garde painter of the late nineteenth century, aside from Degas, focused more of his energy on painting this subject and achieved such extraordinary results.   At the turn of the century, Renoir was continuing his exploration of bathers and nude models, painting this picture in 1905.  The critic Emile Verhaeren had praised Renoir's nudes in the mid-1880s and his same sentiments were applicable nearly two decades later: "Here is an utterly new vision, a quite unexpected interpretation of reality to solicit our imagination.  Nothing is fresher, more alive and pulsating with blood and sexuality, than these bodies and faces as he portrays them.  Where have they come from, those light and vibrating tones that caress arms, necks and shoulders, and give a sensation of soft flesh and porousness?  The backgrounds are suffusions of air and light; they are vague because they must not distract us" (E. Verhaeren, "Impressionism," June 15, 1885, reprinted in Renoir, A Retrospective, New York, 1987, p. 167).

In the last years of his life, Renoir was able to devote himself to the recreation of an idyllic world largely undisturbed by references to modernity (fig. 2).  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. 3) to the icy classical 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.

Nearly a decade after the present work 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 for Titian (fig. 4) and Rubens rather than for Ingres as had been the case in the 1880s. In all likelihood, the model for the present work was a young woman named Louise Bengel. Through the eyes of Renoir, however, she became a goddess or otherwise monumental figure, 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 (ex. cat.), Hayward Gallery, London; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris & Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985-86, p. 278).

During the years when Renoir was concentrating on his nudes he was competing for market share with the wildly popular salon painter, William Adolphe Bouguereau.  In comparison with Bouguereau's untouched, milky white nudes, Renoir's were much more explicitly provocative in their sensuality.  In this picture, the figure's skin is pulsating with tones of pink and blue and her body radiates with life.   She is depicted in the enticing moment immediately before she shields her nudity, as she reaches for her chemise to cover her breasts.  There can be no mistaking the vitality of the woman's flesh and Renoir's enjoyment in executing it.