Description

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was celebrated in his lifetime for capturing the nuanced expressions of childhood. Recognizing this, his patron Paul-Antoine Berard commissioned the artist to paint a number of portraits of his four children, in addition to likenesses of himself and his wife. Here, Renoir portrayed Lucie, Berard’s youngest and one of the artist’s favorite models, as the picture of innocence at three years old. Her small hands, positioned rather formally at her sides, lack the accessories, like toys and books, found in some other of Renoir’s portraits of children; her white dress and subtle smile invoke a serene but fleeting moment of youth.

Provenance

Commissioned by Paul Berard (1833-1905) (father of sitter), Wargemont and Paris [per Bailey 1997]; sold, Paul Berard sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 8, 1905, lot 20, to, J. E. D. Pieyre Lacombe de Mandiargues (1879–1916) (husband of sitter), for 10,030 francs [per auction catalogue, 1905]. André Schoeller, Paris, by May 25, 1912 [this and the following per Dauberville and Dauberville 2009]; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, May 25, 1912, for 11,000 francs; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, February 26, 1913, for 23,500 francs [per purchase receipt from Bernheim-Jeune to Monsieur A. [sic] Ryerson, photocopy in curatorial object file]; Bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.