Lise Tréhot (14 March 1848 – 12 March 1922) was a French art model who posed for artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

from 1866 until 1872, during his early Salon period. She appeared in more than twenty paintings, including notable works such as ''

Lise with a Parasol ''Lise with a Parasol'' () 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 a forest. She wears a white muslin dre ...

'' (1867) and '' In Summer'' (1868), and she was the model for almost all of Renoir's work featuring female figures at this time. Tréhot married Georges Brière de l'Isle in 1883 and raised four children to whom she bequeathed two of Renoir's paintings, ''

Lise Sewing Lise may refer to: People *Eliseo Nicolás Alonso (known as Lise; 1955–2012), Spanish woodcarver and sculptor *Claude Lise (born 1941), French politician from Martinique Given name Lise is a variant of the given name Lisa *Lise de Baissac (1905 ...

'' (1867–68) and '' Lise in a White Shawl'' (1872), both of which are currently held by the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

.Collins, John (2013). "Tréhot, Lise." In Jill Berk Jiminez (ed).
Dictionary of Artists' Models
'. Routeledge. pp.526–528. . .Cooper, Douglas (May 1959).
Renoir, Lise and the Le Cœur Family: A Study of Renoir's Early Development-1 Lise
" ''The Burlington Magazine'', 101 (674): 162–171. .

Early life

Lise Tréhot was born in Ecquevilly,

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

, France, on 14 March 1848, to Louis Tréhot and Amelie Elisabeth Boudin. Her father was the postmaster of the town until the mid-1850s, after which he moved the entire family to Paris where he sold lemonade, tobacco, and wine at a shop in the 17th arrondissement. Lise was the fourth in a family of six children, including three brothers and two sisters. A document from this time describes Tréhot's profession as a dressmaker. Clémence Tréhot, her older sister, was the lover of artist Jules Le Cœur, who later introduced her to

at his house in Marlotte, possibly in June 1865.Cooper, Douglas (Sept–Oct 1959).
Renoir, Lise and the Le Cœur Family: A Study of Renoir's Early Development-II: The Le Cœurs
" '' The Burlington Magazine'', 101 (678/679): 320, 322–329. . Distel, Anne (1995). ''Renoir: A Sensuous Vision''. Abrams Discoveries series. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 25. . .House, John. (2013).
The Many Faces of Lise Tréhot: Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Portraits of ''Parisiennes''
" In Heather MacDonald (ed.) ''Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the Dallas Museum of Art''. The Richard R. Brettell Lecture Series. Yale University Press. pp. 25–36. . .

Modeling period

Tréhot began modeling for Renoir when she was about eighteen and he was twenty-five. Early paintings of Tréhot at this time include '' Lise in a Straw Hat'' (1866) and ''

'' (1867–68). Renoir is thought to have painted a modern nude of Tréhot as '' Diana'' (1867), but it was rejected by the Salon of 1867. Renoir found critical success the next year with '' Lise'' (1867), which was well received at the Salon of 1868. The Impressionist painting depicts Tréhot in a life-size portrait, strolling through a wooded park as sunlight falls through the trees. Art critic Zacharie Astruc described Tréhot in ''Lise'' as "the likeable Parisian girl in the woods", and as a working-class girl.

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

also approved, comparing Tréhot to Monet's model and later wife

Camille Doncieux Camille-Léonie Doncieux (; 15 January 1847 – 5 September 1879) was the first wife of French painter Claude Monet, with whom she had two sons. She was the subject of a number of paintings by Monet, as well as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Édoua ...

. French art critic

Théodore Duret Théodore Duret (20 January 1838 – 16 January 1927) 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'Avant Garde (Paris, ...

later observed that because Renoir's ''Lise'' was derivative of

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 the ...

's technique, its appearance at the Salon "provoked no definite opposition".Duret, Théodore (1910). ''Manet and the French Impressionists''. G. Richards. p. 111. . However, Renoir's decision to shadow Tréhot's face in darkness and emphasize the reflection of sunlight from her white dress in ''Lise'' led several critics to ridicule Tréhot's appearance due to the unusual contrast.White, Barbara Ehrlich (2010). ''Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters''. Abrams. p. 28. . . At the Salon of 1869, Tréhot appeared in a work named '' In Summer'' (1868), dressed casually in a loose blouse falling off her shoulders. John Collins notes that Tréhot's "dark, heavy-set and expressionless features" worked well in such portraits, but were less successful in more formal, costume-oriented paintings such as '' The Engaged Couple'' (1868), where she poses with artist

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...

. In the summer of 1869, she accompanied Renoir to his parents’ house in the Ville-d'Avray, and made trips to the Seine near

Bougival Bougival () is a suburban commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is located west from the centre of Paris, on the left bank of the River Seine, on the departmental border with Hauts-de-Seine. In ...

where Renoir painted scenes with Monet on the water. '' La Barque'' (1870) is thought to depict Lise during this summer holiday. In total, Tréhot appeared in over twenty paintings by Renoir during his early Salon period from approximately 1866 until 1872. According to art historian John House, "Lise was the model for virtually all of Renoir's female figures at this time".House, John (1997).
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La Promenade
'. Getty Publications. pp. 14, 81. . . Although little is known about the exact nature of Tréhot's relationship with Renoir while she was modeling; she is said to have given birth to a baby boy named Pierre on 14 December 1868, but it is unclear what became of him and he may have died as an infant. On 21 July 1870, Tréhot gave birth to a baby girl named Jeanne (d. 1934) who was given to a wet nurse to raise as her own. Renoir continued to secretly support Jeanne financially until he died (and after his death with the help of

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (; 3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with being a major supporter an ...

), but never publicly or legally acknowledged that she was his daughter during his lifetime.

Distel, Anne Anne Distel (born Anne Dayez on 19 February 1947) is a French honorary general curator of heritage at the Musée d'Orsay and specialist in Impressionist paintings. She curated notable exhibitions such as ''Large monographie Renoir'', ''Cézanne e ...

(2010). ''Renoir''. Abbeville Press. pp. 70–74. . .Rainbow, Rebecca (ed). (2006). ''Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde''. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 146, 149. . . For unknown reasons, Tréhot stopped modeling for Renoir after 1872; it was said that she never spoke to or saw him again. Although Tréhot was an important part of Renoir's early career, he never mentioned her in any published interviews, memoirs, or biographies.

Later life

In 1883, more than a decade after Tréhot stopped modeling for Renoir, she married architect Georges Brière de l'Isle (1847–1902). As the wife of Brière de l'Isle, she raised two sons and two daughters. Tréhot bequeathed two of Renoir's paintings, ''Lise Sewing'' (1867–68) and '' Lise in a White Shawl'' (1872), to her children. It is said that before her death, she destroyed many of her personal papers related to her time modeling for Renoir. Tréhot died in Paris, in the

16th arrondissement The 16th arrondissement of Paris (; ) is the westernmost of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the city's Right Bank, it is adjacent to the 17th and 8th arrondissements to the northeast, as well as to the ...

, on 12 March 1922, at the age of 73. She is buried in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

Selected works as model

Tréhot's list of selected works includes at least twenty-six oil on canvas paintings, twenty-four of which were painted by Renoir, while two are by Frédéric Bazille (1841–1870). It is thought that Tréhot may have posed for as many as twenty-three works for Renoir, but only once for Bazille; Renoir's '' Landscape with Two People'' (1866), in which she appeared, has survived only as a fragment of the lower left corner, known as '' Woman with Bird'' (''La Fille a l'Oiseau''). ''Landscape with Two People'' is preserved as a painting within a painting in '' Bazille's Studio'' (1870), the only known surviving image of the full painting. Tréhot is believed to have posed for '' La Toilette'' (1869–70), another work by Bazille. At least one painting, '' Diana'' (1867), is disputed, and is thought to feature a model other than Tréhot.

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trehot, Lise 1848 births 1922 deaths French artists' models Pierre-Auguste Renoir People from Yvelines