Lot Essay
This work is a study for the celebrated oil Claude et Renée, 1903, now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (see ill.).
The present study, whose dimensions are practically identical to the canvas, establishes the contours and relationship between the baby and his nurse: Renée leans back as if hoisting the baby against her right hip, while Claude's billowing dress gives him a pear-shaped appearance.
Of the many early portraits of Claude Renoir, Claude et Renée is the most ambitious and monumental, and had been aptly described as among "the most spare figure compositions in Renoir's whole career."
To be included in Vol. X (Les pastels, Aquarelles et Dessins) of the Renoir Catalogue raisonné being prepared by François Daulte.
The present study, whose dimensions are practically identical to the canvas, establishes the contours and relationship between the baby and his nurse: Renée leans back as if hoisting the baby against her right hip, while Claude's billowing dress gives him a pear-shaped appearance.
Of the many early portraits of Claude Renoir, Claude et Renée is the most ambitious and monumental, and had been aptly described as among "the most spare figure compositions in Renoir's whole career."
To be included in Vol. X (Les pastels, Aquarelles et Dessins) of the Renoir Catalogue raisonné being prepared by François Daulte.