Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919)
Madame Pierre Henri Renoir
1870
Oil on canvas, 81.3 x 64.8 cm
Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA
This is one of two pendant portraits that Renoir painted of his elder brother, Pierre Henri, and his wife, Blanche-Marie Blanc (1841–1910?). When paired, the sitters look across at each other in the “en regard” format; Pierre Henri gazes to the right, and Blanche-Marie to the left. The paintings are set in a lush Parisian interior, which highlights the sitters’ comfortable bourgeois status. Blanche-Marie holds her left hand across her breast, evoking the pose of the Medici Venus, a famous ancient sculpture; she prominently displays her wedding band in a deferential gesture toward her husband. Renoir’s use of thin, broken brushstrokes adds a sense of motion to this engaging portrait. Seven years after the portraits were completed, Pierre Henri retired and the couple moved to the country. The paintings entered the art market separately, before the death of either sitter, and at a time when Renoir had already achieved artistic acclaim. (Fogg Museum)
Companion:
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919)
Pierre-Henri Renoir
1870
Private collection
See also:
• Blanc, Blanche-Marie (1841-1910?)