Detail of a Woman with a Parasol and a Child on a Sunlit Hillside by Renoir in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Woman with a Parasol and Small Child on a Sunlit Hillside

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

about 1874–76

Medium/Technique: Oil on canvas

Dimensions 47 x 56.2 cm (18 1/2 x 22 1/8 in.)

Credit Line: Bequest of John T. Spaulding

Accession Number: 48.593

Collections: Europe

Classifications: Paintings


Renoir’s model for this painting was likely Camille Monet, wife of his fellow Impressionist Claude Monet; Renoir painted her on several occasions between 1874 and 1876. Here she sits on a hillside, her white dress dappled with pink and blue in the shade. Her grace and composure stand in marked contrast to the toddling child who wanders off into the background at right, oblivious of the painter’s presence.
InscriptionsLower left: Renoir
ProvenanceAugust 25, 1891, sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel, Paris (stock no. 1541) [see note 1]; transferred from Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 1845-4935); January 14, 1917, sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Josef Stransky (b. 1872 - d. 1936), New York; sold by Stransky to Duncan Phillips (b. 1886 - d. 1966), Washington, DC; April 30, 1926, sold by Phillips to Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 8239); April 27, 1926 or 1927, sold by Durand-Ruel to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston [see note 2]; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)

NOTES:
[1] The provenance given here was provided by Durand-Ruel, Paris in a letter to the MFA (January 4, 1962; in MFA curatorial file); also see François Daulte, "Auguste Renoir: Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Peint, I. Figures, 1860 - 1890" (Lausanne, 1971), cat. no. 260.
[2] In their letter to the MFA (as above, n. 1) Durand-Ruel stated that they purchased the painting from Mr. Phillips on April 30, 1926 and sold it to John Taylor Spaulding in April 1926. Mr. Spaulding's receipt is dated April 27, 1926. Daulte (as above, n. 1) gives Spaulding' s purchase date as April 27, 1927.

Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/33322/woman-with-a-parasol-and-small-child-on-a-sunlit-hillside