oil-on-canvas
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
Lise Tréhot
Lise Tréhot (14 March 1848 – 12 March 1922) was a French art model who posed for artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir from 1866 until 1872, during his early Salon period. She appeared in more than twenty paintings, including notable works such as ...
aged about 20.
The subject
Tréhot was Renoir's companion from about 1866 to 1871. He painted her at least 23 times,Jiminez, Jill Berk (2013). ''Dictionary of Artists' Models''. Routeledge. pp. 526-528. . including ''
Lise with a parasol
''Lise with a Parasol'' (french: Lise – La femme à l'ombrelle) is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created in 1867 during his early Salon period. The full-length painting depicts model Lise Tréhot posing in ...
'', painted in 1867, Renoir's first significant critical success which was admired at the Paris Salon in 1868. This success may have inspired Renoir to paint her again, this time in a more informal style.
Description
The painting measures by and is a half-length frontal portrait of a young woman, dressed informally, sitting on a chair beside a wall, possibly on a balcony, with greenery behind. The female figure is carefully finished, but the background is sketched out roughly with bold dashes of colour in broad brushstrokes suggesting sunlit foliage. A thin red hairband pulls her hair back from her face, with dark wavy tresses falling loosely over her shoulders and white bodice. The right strap of the bodice has fallen off her shoulder, creating a very deep neckline. She has a distant expression, gazing to the right of the viewer. Her bare arms lie in her lap, resting on a skirt with red and white stripes, with a few green leaves held in her right hand. The painting is signed "A. Renoir" on part of the chair to the lower left.
Influences and style
The painting takes inspiration from the Romantic paintings of
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...
. It is an example of a transition in Renoir's style from more formal studio painting to a looser Impressionist style. It was exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1869 under the title ''En été, étude'', with the word "étude" (French for "study") added to deflect criticism of the loose, impressionistic style of the background, which was not as highly finished as a completed salon painting (or ''tableau''), such as his 1867 painting of ''Lise with a parasol''.
Provenance
It is not known who purchased the painting from Renoir, but it was acquired from an unnamed art dealer by the art critic
Théodore Duret
Théodore Duret (20 January 1838, Saintes – 16 January 1927, Paris) was a French journalist, author and art critic. He was one of the first advocates of Courbet, Manet, and the Impressionists. One of his best known works is ''Critique d'Ava ...
in March 1873, and was acquired by collector
François Depeaux
François Depeaux (13 July 1853 - 11 October 1920) was a French industrialist, art collector and patron. He was one of the defenders of the Rouen School.
Life
He was born in Bois-Guillaume. He bought a coal mine near Swansea in Wales and develo ...
(1853-1920). It was auctioned in 1906, and acquired in 1907 by the Alte Nationalgalerie in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
using funds donated by Mathilde Kappel, wife of the banker
Marcus Kappel Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:
* Marcus (name), a masculine given name
* Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name
Places
* Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
* Mărcuş, a village in Dobâr ...
