拍品專文
Marthe Meurier (1870-1919) married the Nabis painter Maurice Denis on 12 June 1893. During their honeymoon in Perros-Guirec, Denis wrote in his journal "Elle est parfaite. Je ne dirai jamais mon bonheur, et comment, ces deux jours, des larmes de joie me suffoquent; et notre fièvre, et l'apaisement inexpliqué de nos désirs. Oh, surtout, l'affreux doute que tout ceci n'est point vrai, que ce bonheur est un rêve, qu'il ne se peut pas qu'ainsi soient réalisés nos espoirs" (M. Denis, Journal, vol. I, 1884-1904, Paris, 1957, p. 100).
Renoir first met Denis in April 1891 at a reception held by Henri Lerolle. Thirteen years later Denis asked him to paint his wife. Jeanne Baudot, Renoir's friend and godmother to his son Jean recalled "Maurice Denis demanda à Renoir de faire le portrait de sa femme. Elle posa dans l'atelier du 73 Rue Caulaincourt. - 'Pose étudiée d'avance' me dit Renoir. - Je n'en doutais pas quand je vois le tableau: l'épaule nue émerge de la fourrure d'un manteau. Maurice Denis avait voulu avoir non seulement l'expression de sa femme, mais aussi le ton de sa carnation par Renoir." (op. cit.).
"After 1900 Renoir virtually stopped painting the fashionable costume pieces he had favoured in the 1890s...[he] began to paint fuller, more mature female forms, in place of the soft young girls of the 1890s - a further indication that his allegiance was not to Titian and Rubens...His most recent work, as the critics clearly saw, had distanced itself from the naturalistic tenets of early Impressionism. They recognised the idealizing process in his working methods and described the vision of the world that the pictures presented with phrases like 'rêve de bonheur' and the 'éternal féminin." (J. House, Exh. Cat., Renoir, Hayward Gallery, London, 1985).
"Renoir excels at portraits. Not only does he catch the external features, but through them he pinpoints the model's character and inner self. I doubt whether any painter has ever interpreted women in a more seductive manner. The deft and lively touches of Renoir's brush are charming, supple and unrestrained, making flesh transparent and tinting the cheeks and lips with a perfect living hue. Renoir's women are enchantresses." (B. Ehrlich, Renoir: His Life, Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 84).
Renoir chose to depict Marthe Denis in a particularly sensous way, by revealing her shoulder and emphasizing the delicacy of her skin by combining it with the soft texture of her fine fur coat. In fact her beauty was renowned and Renoir was amongst several artists who chose to depict her, including Aristide Maillol (see fig. 1). She frequently appeared in works by Denis, such as his celebrated Les Muses of 1893 (fig. 2) and alongside her husband, Paul Sérusier, Paul Ranson, Xavier Roussel and Pierre Bonnard in Denis' Hommage à Cézanne of 1900, both in the Musée d'Orsay.
The present work has remained in the Denis family since its commission.
Renoir first met Denis in April 1891 at a reception held by Henri Lerolle. Thirteen years later Denis asked him to paint his wife. Jeanne Baudot, Renoir's friend and godmother to his son Jean recalled "Maurice Denis demanda à Renoir de faire le portrait de sa femme. Elle posa dans l'atelier du 73 Rue Caulaincourt. - 'Pose étudiée d'avance' me dit Renoir. - Je n'en doutais pas quand je vois le tableau: l'épaule nue émerge de la fourrure d'un manteau. Maurice Denis avait voulu avoir non seulement l'expression de sa femme, mais aussi le ton de sa carnation par Renoir." (op. cit.).
"After 1900 Renoir virtually stopped painting the fashionable costume pieces he had favoured in the 1890s...[he] began to paint fuller, more mature female forms, in place of the soft young girls of the 1890s - a further indication that his allegiance was not to Titian and Rubens...His most recent work, as the critics clearly saw, had distanced itself from the naturalistic tenets of early Impressionism. They recognised the idealizing process in his working methods and described the vision of the world that the pictures presented with phrases like 'rêve de bonheur' and the 'éternal féminin." (J. House, Exh. Cat., Renoir, Hayward Gallery, London, 1985).
"Renoir excels at portraits. Not only does he catch the external features, but through them he pinpoints the model's character and inner self. I doubt whether any painter has ever interpreted women in a more seductive manner. The deft and lively touches of Renoir's brush are charming, supple and unrestrained, making flesh transparent and tinting the cheeks and lips with a perfect living hue. Renoir's women are enchantresses." (B. Ehrlich, Renoir: His Life, Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 84).
Renoir chose to depict Marthe Denis in a particularly sensous way, by revealing her shoulder and emphasizing the delicacy of her skin by combining it with the soft texture of her fine fur coat. In fact her beauty was renowned and Renoir was amongst several artists who chose to depict her, including Aristide Maillol (see fig. 1). She frequently appeared in works by Denis, such as his celebrated Les Muses of 1893 (fig. 2) and alongside her husband, Paul Sérusier, Paul Ranson, Xavier Roussel and Pierre Bonnard in Denis' Hommage à Cézanne of 1900, both in the Musée d'Orsay.
The present work has remained in the Denis family since its commission.