A painting by the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoirwhich features her son Jean Renoir and his nanny, described as a “masterpiece of intimacy“, was presented this Thursday in Parisand will be auctioned on November 25.
Graduated The boy and his toys – Gabrielle and the artist’s son, Jeanthis painting “is estimated between 1 million and 1.5 million [de euros]in a very reasonable way,” he explained to AFP Christophe Joron-Deremauctioneer in charge of your sale at the auction house Drouot.
The canvas, painted in oil and with a format of 54×65 cmrepresents Jean Renoirsecond son of the renowned painter and future filmmaker, sitting on his nanny’s knee, Gabrielle Renardand playing with some figurines.
It is a “masterpiece of intimacy” by the painter, said Joron-Derem, presenting it as a rare painting.
“Only two subjects painted in this way by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are known. A fairly similar painting is preserved in the collections of the National Gallery of Art of Washington,” he added.
“This painting is a very, very important work due to its format and the time in which it was painted. It is truly an example of Renoir’s perfect mastery of his art.“said Pascal Perrin, an art historian specializing in the painter.
A Renoir painted in the last decade of the 19th century
Painted between 1890 and 1895, the painting belonged to Jeanne Baudotthe artist’s only student and close friend. She kept it until her death, in 1957, in her house in Louvecienneson the outskirts of Paris, where Renoir had set up his workshop.
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The work was later bequeathed to his “spiritual son” Jean Griot –member of the Resistance during World War II and member of General De Gaulle’s cabinet, and later director of the newspaper Le Figaro in the 1970s – before being preserved by his heirs until his death in 2011.
“It is a painting that never left the family, that had never been seen and that did not even appear in the archives Wildenstein“, an important reference in the art world, said the auctioneer.
The canvas is already authenticated and obtained a reference number to appear in the painter’s official inventory.