Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on April 7, 1894)

Mme Aude (daughter of Paul Durand-Ruel), Paris (acquired from the above)

Vicomtesse Thérèse de Montfort

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above on January 15, 1959)

Roger Darnetal (acquired from the above on January 17, 1959)

Jack Cotton, London (acquired in 1959 and sold: Christie's, London, June 25, 1990, lot 16)

Private Collection (sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 13, 1998, lot 6)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Guernsey, Museum & Art Gallery, Renoir in Guernsey, 1841-1919, 1988, no. 15

François. Daulte, Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Figures, vol. I, Lausanne, 1971, no. 452, illustrated (titled Baigneuses à Guernesey and as dating from 1883

Elda Fezzi & Jacqueline Henry, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Renoir 1869-1883, Paris, 1985, no. 560 (illustrated p. 115, as dating from 1883)

Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. II, Paris, 2009, no. 933, illustrated p. 17 (as dating from 1883)

Very good condition. The canvas has an old glue-lining, typical of Impressionist pictures. Under UV, there is a small retouch in the upper center in the sky, a few tiny spots in the upper right and a further small area of retouching in the center left, also in the sky. In the remainder of the picture there are tiny, scattered dots of retouching in the figures on the left and in the lower-half of the canvas, but these appear to be cosmetic and probably could be reduced. Otherwise, the paint layer is stable and the colors are fresh.
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.

Renoir's lavish scenes of frolicking bathers were some of the most celebrated compositions of his mature career, and Baigneuses is a beautiful and richly-painted example of this theme.  The composition is one of Renoir's more realistic portrayals of public bathing and features the subjects in the modest swimwear that was common during this era.  The two figures in the foreground are probably based on the models Julie Manet and her cousin, who appeared in several of Renoir's pictures from the early 1890s wearing the same ribboned bonnets. 

For much of its recorded history, the present picture was identified as being one of those which Renoir completed around the time of his month-long stay at the Channel Island of Guernsey in 1883.  For years afterwards, he remembered that there was "nothing more attractive" than the experience of watching men and women bathe together off the coast.  The critic Gustave Geffroy was impressed by Renoir's interpretation of this spectacle, commenting in 1894, "The work of Renoir is a source of enchantment for the eye.  It is also a consolation, a balm for the spirit [...] his observations as a landscape painter in Guernsey, in Toulon, in Algeria, wear the harmony of blue and gold, an extraordinary appearance of flamelike glimmering, they are conflagrations of brightness, mirages of light" (quoted in N. Wadley, Renoir, 1841-1919 (exhibition catalogue) op. cit., pp. 188-89).  Indeed, Geffroy's description can readily be applied to the present work, leading François Daulte to assign it the site-specific Baigneuses à Guernsey title and the date of 1883 in his catalogue raisonné.   

Writing in the 1988 exhibition catalogue on this subject, John House provided the following rationale as to why the present composition, as well as a related composition (Daulte no. 453) were in fact painted in the early 1890s.  House believes that the jagged rock formations emerging out of the water in this picture were unlike any view that Renoir would have seen along the Mouslin Huet in Guernsey and were probably done from memory.   Moreover, the artist most likely painted these two pictures shortly before selling them to his dealer Durand-Ruel in the early 1890s.  "If this is so," House wrote, "this imaginative return to Guernsey, a decade or so after his actual visit, shows what a hold the place still had on him" (J. House, ibid., p. 14).

One of the first owners of the present work was Jack Cotton, the Birmingham property magnate and English major collector of Impressionist pictures.