'' La Promenade'' is an oil on canvas, early Impressionism, Impressionist painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created in 1870. The work depicts a young couple on an excursion outside of the city, walking on a path through a woodland.House, John (1997).
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La Promenade
'. Getty Publications. pp. 1, 14, 53, 55, 81. . . Influenced by the rococo revival style during the Second French Empire, Second Empire, Renoir's '' La Promenade'' reflects the older style and themes of eighteenth-century artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Antoine Watteau. The work also shows the influence of Claude Monet on Renoir's new approach to painting.

Background

The forest was a popular landscape subject for nineteenth-century French artists, particularly the forest of Fontainebleau. Before Renoir, Claude Monet (1840–1926) painted ''Bazille and Camille (Study for "Déjeuner sur l'Herbe")'' (1865), showing a couple together in the forest. In 1869, Renoir and Monet spent time painting together at La Grenouillère. By 1870, Renoir was living in Louveciennes with his mother. Throughout this decade, the eighteenth-century rococo art movement was back in style and Renoir embraced it.Groom, Gloria (2001). ''Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel, 1890–1930''. Yale University Press. p. 10. . . France declared war against Germany on 19 July 1870, starting the Franco-Prussian War. Renoir was conscripted and served four months in the cavalry but never saw combat.Strieter, Terry W. (1999). ''Nineteenth-century European Art: A Topical Dictionary''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 206. .

Description

A young man, possibly a ''canotier'' (boatman) given his distinctive boater hat, holds the hand of a young woman on a path surrounded by bushes, perhaps on the banks of the Seine, with the implication of an upcoming intimate encounter. The image of lovers walking through a woodland is based on a popular rococo theme.Herbert, Robert L. (1988). ''Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society''. Yale University Press. pp. 190–192. . . Interpretations of the figure models vary. It is generally believed that the model for the woman in ''La Promenade'' was Lise Tréhot, Renoir's favorite model and companion during his early Salon period. In the past, it was believed that the man in the painting was landscape painter Alfred Sisley (1839–1899) and the woman was Rapha, a companion of musician Edmond Maître (1840–1898). The original title of the painting is unknown. It first received the title ''La Promenade'' by unnamed owners of the work when it was put up for sale in 1898. It was not until 1941 that questions about the original title came to light. Renoir was known to strenuously object to sentimental titles applied by others to his work. "Why have they given names to my pictures which never represent the reason I painted such and such a subject? My joy consists in painting, and it has never been in my mind to paint a preconceived subject", Renoir said in his later years.''Renoir Centennial Loan Exhibition'', 1941, as cited in House 1997, p. 55. However, Renoir did exhibit a painting with the title of ''La Promenade'' in 1876, but that work is now known as ''Mother and Children''.

Critical reception

In a commentary for the exhibition ''Origins of Impressionism'' (1994–95), Henri Loyrette writes that ''La Promenade'' "succeeds at last in what Renoir had for so long and so vainly sought: the integration of the figure in a landscape".Tinterow, Gary. Henri Loyrette (1994). ''Origins of Impressionism''. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 141, 457. . . Loyrette notes the influence of Monet in ''La Promenade'' and the change in Renoir's style since ''Les Fiancés'' (1868). The Impressionist influence on Renoir, Perrin Stein writes, led to his increasing use of the Analogous colors, high-key palette. Renoir's "lightness and delicacy of touch" here is, according to art historian John House, reminiscent of rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). Critics also view the influence of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) on this work, particularly in Renoir's use of the intimate couple in the woods, a motif popularized in scenes found in Watteau's ''fête galante'' genre.

Other work

Auguste Renoir - Lovers - Google Art Project

In addition to ''La Promenade'', Renoir explored Rococo painting, rococo themes in several subsequent works including ''The Lovers'' (1875) and ''Confidences'' (1878). In 1883, Renoir created a drawing titled ''Couple on a Hillside'' for the French literary review ''La Vie Moderne'' based on a variation of ''La Promenade'' a decade earlier, but redesigned to show different angles and positions of the original figures.J. Paul Getty Museum (2003). ''Masterpieces of Painting in the J. Paul Getty Museum''. Getty Publications. p. 93. . .Walsh, John. (1990). "Acquisitions". ''The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal'', Volume 18. The J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 176. .

Provenance

John Walsh (art historian), John Walsh, American art historian and former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is credited with helping acquire ''La Promenade'' for the Getty collection in 1989.Muchnic, Suzanne (April 6, 1989).
Getty Picks Up a 'Delightful' Renoir for $17.7 Million
." ''Los Angeles Times''. Retrieved April 16, 2015.Davis, Margaret L. (2007). ''The Culture Broker: Franklin D. Murphy and the Transformation of Los Angeles''. p. 303. University of California Press. . . *Gustave Goupy *Paul Durand-Ruel *Paul Cassirer *Bernhard Koehler, Bernhard Köhler *Paul Rosenberg (art dealer), Paul Rosenberg *Nate B. and Frances Spingold *Seito *British Rail Pension Trustee Company, Ltd.

References

External links

*
La Promenade
' at the J. Paul Getty Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Promenade 1870 paintings Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Landscape paintings Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum