Lot Essay
In 1894, Renoir, at the age of forty-nine, finally decided to marry his Aline Charigot, long-time mistress. Aline came from Essoyes, a small town in the Champagne region of France, where they had spent their first summer together. Under pressure from Aline, Renoir bought a house there in 1895, the first house he ever owned. Renoir soon felt settled in Essoyes and enjoyed the rural life of the south, producing numerous landscapes of the area.