Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Mme E. Tournon (née Georgette Charpentier, the sitter; sale: Christie's, London, 6th June 1971, lot 31)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 28th November 1989, lot 9
Private Collection (purchased at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1993 

Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir. Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, Paris, 2007, vol. I, no. 486, illustrated p. 480

The canvas is lined. There is stable craquelure throughout the canvas with a few scattered small spots of retouching to the beige background, mostly in the upper part of the composition and visible under UV light. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition.
"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."

Georgette's father, Georges Charpentier (1846-1905), inherited the great family publishing business, La Bibliothèque Charpentier, as a young man in 1871. A year later he married Marguerite Lemonnier, daughter of the court jeweller in the Place Vendôme. Passionately interested in all the arts, the Charpentiers soon established the most famous Salon of the period in their house at 11 rue de Grenelle, mixing the great figures of the artistic, literary and political worlds. It was there that Renoir was introduced into a society from which he received in the following years many much needed portrait commissions.
Renoir executed several family portraits for the Charpentiers, culminating in 1878 in one of his masterpieces, the very large group portrait of Mme. Charpentier and her children, Georgette and Paul-Émile-Charles, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.