Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in October 1910)
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired by July 1922)
Madison Lewis (acquired in June 1944)
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York (acquired in June 1945)
Gabriel Dereppe (acquired in July 1948)
William A. Coolidge, Cambridge, Massachusetts (acquired in March 1959)
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts (gift from the above in September 1960)
Joseph H. Hazen (acquired from the above in December 1967; sale: Sotheby's, New York, Paintings from the Collection of Joseph H. Hazen, 8th November 1995, lot 11)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, Selections from the Joseph H. Hazen Collection, 1994-95

Julius Meier-Graefe, Renoir, Leipzig, 1929, illustrated p. 350

The canvas is not lined. Apart from four small pinhead-sized specks of retouching to the upper left of the central tree, visible under UV light, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate although the colours are richer and stronger in the original, particularly in the blues and greens.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In the autumn of 1908, Renoir moved to a newly built house on his estate Les Collettes at Cagnes. His estate, and in particular the old farm, provided him with a variety of rustic subjects that the artist sought to preserve in his newly acquired property. His son Claude remembered his father had 'struggled to preserve the estate's rural character; he wanted neither a villa nor a garden' (quoted in John House, 1960, p. 287) and he instructed his gardeners to stop removing the grass growing on the pathways. The rustic ideal that Renoir created on his new estate reflects the idealisation of past rural societies that increasingly became a feature of his mature works. In these works he created a vision of an earthly paradise, the fluid brushwork and dappled sunlight of the present work illustrating the timeless, classical mood that the artist evoked in his southern landscapes.

Fig. 1, Renoir in Cagnes, 1905