Lot 418
  • 418

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR | Portrait de femme en chapeau de paille (Madame Clapisson)

Estimate
325,000 - 375,000 USD
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Description

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir
  • Portrait de femme en chapeau de paille (Madame Clapisson)
  • Signed Renoir (lower left)
  • Oil on canvas laid down on board
  • 8 7/8 by 8 in.
  • 22.5 by 20.3 cm
  • Painted circa 1882.

Provenance

Valentine Henriette Clapisson, Paris (née Billet; acquired directly from the artist)
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the above in 1915)
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above)
Dikran K. Kelekian, Paris & New York (acquired from the above in 1916 and sold by the estate: American Art Association, New York, January 30-31, 1922, lot 88)
M. Demotte, New York (acquired from the above sale)
Helen Metcalf Danforth, Providence
Patrick B. Buchanan, Stirling, Scotland (a gift from the above)
Thence by descent

Literature

François Daulte, Auguste Renoir, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, figures, vol. I, Lausanne, 1971, no. 430, illustrated n.p.
Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, 1882-1894, vol. II, Paris, 2007, no. 1091, illustrated p. 257

Condition

The work is in very good condition overall. The board is sound. The colors are bright and fresh. There is some hairline craquelure scattered throughout the composition. There is a pindot loss to the pigment in the background to the upper right of the figure's hat. Under UV light, some possible hairline spots of inpainting in the ribbon of her hat to the left side of the face.
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.

Catalogue Note

An intimate celebration of Renoir’s facility in depicting the female form, Portrait de femme en chapeau de paille (Madame Clapisson) is one of Renoir’s classically graceful depictions of youth. Renowned for his portraits—a central concern in the early decades of Renoir’s lengthy career—the artist consistently turned to this genre as a means to convey the evolutions of light and color that were central to his Impressionist oeuvre.

According to Renoir, he was first introduced to the Clapissons at the home of Marguerite and Georges Charpentier. The Charpentiers had avidly collected Impressionist works since 1875, and the Clapissons soon followed suit: “The Clapissons were typical of the readers of La vie moderne—culturally broad-minded enough to speculate in Impressionist painting but still supportive of the jury system of the annual Salon and of change from within. Léon Clapisson, son of the composer Antoine-Louis Clapisson, was a businessman who dabbled in stocks and real estate and had a passion for art collection. As Anne Distel discovered, Léon already possessed a considerable fortune when he married Valentine, thirteen years his junior, in 1865. Clapisson began collecting seriously in 1879, and by the end of May 1882 he had acquired his first Renoir works from the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel: three paintings that the artist had brought back from a trip to Algeria in March and April” (John Collins, “Madame Léon Clapisson,” in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago (exhibition catalogue), Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2014, n.p.; see fig. 1). Renoir would go on to paint numerous of portraits of Mme Clapisson, including Madame Léon Clapisson in the Art Institute of Chicago (see fig. 2). More intimate in scale, the present work provides a fleeting impression of one of Renoir’s primary muses.

Decades after passing through the collection of Madame Clappison, the present work was acquired by the family of Helen Metcalf Danforth of Providence, Rhode Island. After viewing the artworks on display at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, Mrs. Danforth and a group of friends from Rhode Island elected to found the Rhode Island School of Design. Under Metcalf’s directorship until her death in 1895, the school and its eponymous museum became institutions of national prominence.  

This work will be included in the forthcoming Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.