Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Private Collection, France
Sale: Beaussant & Lefèvre, Paris, April 29, 1994, lot 79
Richard Green, London
Acquired from the above circa the late 1990s

This work is in very good condition. Canvas is lined and the edges are reinforced with tape. Colors are bright and fresh and the surface is clean. Under UV light a few scattered pindots of inpaintings are visible around the extreme perimeter, likely to address prior frame abrasion. In addition there are two pindots of inpainting on the figure's top lip, otherwise fine.
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.

This charming portrait of Jean, Renoir’s second child born from his union with Aline Charigot, whom he had married in 1890, is a lively depiction of one of the artist’s favorite subjects: his children. Renoir had painted numerous commissioned portraits of children in the earlier phase of his career, but following the births of Pierre in 1885, Jean in 1894 and Claude in 1901 he frequently turned to his sons as a source of inspiration. Much like with Aline, whom Renoir depicted tirelessly in a variety of settings and guises, it was through his children that he sought to capture their spirit and corporeal growth; from infants to their transition as young boys. This work thus provides insight into Renoir’s artistic process and indeed bears testament to the importance of the family life he sought to capture in his work.

Jean was one of Renoir’s most obedient sitters, sitting quietly for hours on end and often playing with toys with his nurse Gabrielle. In the present work he is depicted not as a nursing infant but as a young boy with short cropped hair, in stark contrast to the auburn cascading curls he was depicted with as a child and which the artist was opposed to trimming. Jean could not wait for the day he could cut his hair, since he was regularly teased for it was a child. It was for this reason that, in 1901, he “eagerly awaited his entrance to Sainte-Croix boarding school, to which the prerequisite was to adopt a hair style that was more conformed to the bourgeois ideal” (Jean Renoir, quoted in Renoir au XX siècle (exhibition catalogue), Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2010, p. 218). Here, Jean is portrayed with shorn hair in an almost formalized, three-quarter length portrait, his delicate profile with rosy cheeks depicted against a dark background; sporting a grown-up jacket and with a bright red foulard round his neck. The soft brushstrokes and gentle depiction, however, offer an affectionate and animated rendition of the child.

With Georges Durand-Ruel as his godfather and Jeanne Baudot his godmother, Jean followed in the footsteps of his father’s artistic pursuits by becoming a successful film director, screenwriter, actor and producer throughout the 1930s. As an author, he wrote the definitive biography of his father, Renoir, My Father, in 1962; it remains a work frequently referenced today and is filled with intimate personal anecdotes on the life of the master.