Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Private collects ion, France (acquired by the family circa 1940s and sold: Christie's, New York, November 2, 2005, lot 388)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Ambroise Vollard, Tableaux, pastels et dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol. II, Paris, 1918, no. 477, illustrated p. 120

Fairly good condition; canvas is lined; several small flakes of loss about 1 1/2 inches below signature, and several pin dots of loss to the left of figure's back in the green pigment; small and faint scrape to the lower part of the figure's right leg. Under UV: no apparent inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Renoir's interest in the female nude intensified in his later years and he was particularly drawn to the depiction of semi-naked figures in intimate settings.  The figure in the present works sits comfortably in a languorous pose, gazing reflectively downward.  The raking light on the model's body is beautifully evoked by the subtle range of resplendent skin tones.  Her nubile figure is accentuated by venus-like proportions and her fecundity is boundless.

Acknowledging the charm of Renoir's nudes, the critic Camille Mauclair commented, "Renoir's woman comes from a primitive dreamland; she is an artless, wild creature, blooming in perfumed scrub... She is a luxuriant, firm, healthy and naive woman with a powerful body, a small head, her eyes wide open, thoughtless, brilliant and ignorant, her lips blood-red and her nostrils dilated; she is a gentle being, like the women of Tahiti, born in a tropical clime where vice is as known as shame, and where entire ingenuousness is a guarantee against all indecency.  One cannot but be astonished at this mixture of 'Japanism,' savagism and eighteenth century taste (C. Mauclair, Impressionists, London, 1903, pp. 16-18).

Fig. I Seated figure of Hestia, from the Parthenon East Pediment, British Museum, London