Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Galerie Paul Vallotton, Lausanne
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1959

Ambroise Vollard, Tableaux, pastels et dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paris, vol. II, 1918, illustrated pl. 160

The canvas is lined. There are no signs of retouching under UV light. This work is in very good condition. Colours: Fairly accurate, although the yellow tones are more subtle in the original.
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir is well known for his sumptuous images of beautiful women, and Portrait de femme assise dans un fauteuil is a lovely example of Renoir's ability to capture the feminine form with his fluid, loose brushwork. The softly defined figure is depicted on an abstract ground of blended hues, and her warm, rosy face typifies Renoir's feminine ideal. As Ann Dumas has noted, the artist was predominantly interested in types rather than individuals, and many of his women share the same characteristics; his women are generally depicted as 'plump and rounded with pearly pink skin, a snub nose, a full mouth and wide eyes' (Anne Dumas, Renoir's Women (exhibition catalogue), Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, 2005, pp. 10-11) and exhibit an air of timeless, unbroken calm. Although this particular woman is unidentified, Renoir has taken notable care to truthfully describe the varying textures of her gently curled hair, her lustrous skin and her formal attire. The paint surface of these late works was a result of an unusual painting technique that gives them a shimmering quality; as John House has noted, Renoir's figures in the latter part of his career are 'thickly painted, but not with single layers of opaque colour; instead fine streaks of varied hues are built up, which create a varied, almost vibrating surface' (John House, Renoir (exhibition catalogue), Haywood Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985, p. 278).