Mlle Charlotte Berthier

1883

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a floral-print dress holds a black lap dog in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she gently smiles as she looks slightly down in that direction with blue eyes. She has a round face, rosy, smooth cheeks, pale pink lips, and a double chin. Her brown hair is mostly covered by a hat with a brown brim and pale yellow crown. A bloom of white feathers nestles at the top front of the hat. Her dress is pale pink with a floral pattern painted with dabs of yellow, red, blue, and green. A burgundy-red bow is tied around her neck and lies limply down her chest. The woman wears gold bracelets over pale olive-green gloves that stretch almost to her elbows. Her fingers are interlaced as she holds the shaggy black dog in her lap. The dog’s front paws rest over the woman’s right forearm, to our left. A table in the background to the right holds a wide-mouthed, lapis-blue vase painted with a yellow and orange bird and white flowers. The vase holds at least a dozen pink, red, and white flowers and greenery. The background is painted with strokes of turquoise and mint green. Some brushstrokes are visible, as in the flowers and the woman’s dress, and some brushstrokes are blended, as in the woman’s face. The artist signed the painting near the bottom right corner, “Renoir 83.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Angelika Wertheim Frink

  • Dimensions

    overall: 92.1 x 73 cm (36 1/4 x 28 3/4 in.)
    framed: 97.5 x 117.5 x 10.2 cm (38 3/8 x 46 1/4 x 4 in.)

  • Accession

    1969.10.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Gustave Caillebotte [1848-1894], Paris. [1] Alexandre Berthier [1883-1918], Prince de Wagram, Paris; probably by inheritance to his sister, Élisabeth Marguerite, Princesse de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais; sold by Wagram heirs though (Canadeesche Hypothek Bank) through (Étienne Bignou, Paris) to (Alex Reid & Lefèvre, London); on joint account with (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York and Paris) and (Marcel Kapferer); sold 5 October 1929 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); [2] sold 1929 to Baron Maurice de Rothschild [1881-1957], Paris; [3] probably sold or consigned by 1933 to (Wildenstein and Co., London, New York and Paris) by 1933 until at least 1939. [4] Angelica Wertheim Frink [1884-1969], New York, by 1941;[5] gift 1970 to NGA.
[1] Per François Daulte, Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint, Vol.I. Figures 1860-1890, Lausanne, 1971: no. 432.
[2] Reid & Lefèvre Paintings Sold, sheet no. 207, #20/29 B1413 gives acquisition source and partial share information (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 283).
[3] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stockbook no. 5, London 1928-1939, and Stockbook no. 8, New York, no. A623; copies in NGA curatorial files.
[4]Lent by Wildenstein to exhibitions in Philadelphia in 1933 and Hartford in 1937.
[5]Lent by Frink to two exhibitions in New York in 1941.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • Manet and Renoir, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1933, unnumbered checklist.

1934

  • Rench Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, The Toledo Museum of Art, November 1934, no. 19.

1935

  • Nineteenth Century Masterpieces, Wildenstein & Co., London, 1935,no. 1, repro., as Portrait of Madame Caillebotte.

1937

  • 43 Portraits, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1937, no. 38., as Mme Caillebotte.

  • French Nineteenth Century Painting for the Benefit of The Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society through the courtesy of Wildenstein & Co., Inc., Quesy Art Galleries, Chicago, 1937, no. 20, repro., as Portrait of Mrs. Caillebotte.

1941

  • French Painting from David to Toulouse-Lautrec, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1941, no. 103, as Portrait of Madame Caillebotte.

  • Renoir: Centennial Loan Exhibition, Duveen Galleries, New York, 1941, no. 47, as Portrait de Madame Caillebotte.

1988

  • Renoir Retrospective, Nagoya City Art Museum; Hiroshima Museum of Art; Nara Prefectoral Museum of Art, 1988-1989, no. 28, as Madame Hagen.

1994

  • Renoir: Master Impressionist, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1994-1995, no. 21, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 34, repro.

2016

  • Renoir: Intimacy, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016-2017, no. 25, repro.

  • Renoir, Image of Women, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Seoul Museum of Art; The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, 2016-2017, no. 24, repro. (shown only in Kyoto).

2017

  • Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party, The Phillips Collection, Washington, 2017-2018, no. 5, repro.

Bibliography

1933

  • Cogniat, Raymond. "La carrière de Renoir." Beaux-Arts 7, no. 26 (30 June 1933):3.

  • "Manet and Renoir Figure Together in Loan Exhibition." Art News 32: (16 December 1933): 11

1935

  • Barnes, Albert C. and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Renoir. New York, 1935: no. 138.

1941

  • Rocheblave, Samuel. French Painting, XIX Century. New York, 1941: 74, repro. as Mme. Caillebotte.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "The Last Century's Founders of this Century's Way of Painting." Art News 40 (15 February 1941):19, repro.

1944

  • Frost, Rosamund. Pierre Auguste Renoir. New York, 1944:43, repro.

1971

  • Daulte, Francois. Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint. Vol.I. Figures 1860-1890. Lausanne, 1971: no. 432

1972

  • Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 557.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 296, repro., as Madame Hagen.

1976

  • Gustave Caillebotte: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Brooklyn Museum, 1976: 40, repro, 45 n. 30.

1978

  • Berhaut, Marie. Caillebotte, sa vie et son oeuvre. Catalogue raisonne des peintures et pastels. Paris, 1978:. Rev. ed. 1994: 12, repro.

1982

  • Thomson, Richard. "'Les Quat' Pattes': The Image of the Dog in Late Nineteenth Century French Art." Art History 5, no. 3 (September 1982):326-327.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 465, no. 678, color repro., as Madame Hagen.

  • White, Barbara Ehrlich. Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters. New York, 1984: repro. 132.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 341, repro., as Madame Hagen.

  • Arts Council of Great Britain. Renoir. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery , London, Galleries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985-1986: 301.

1988

  • Balanda, Marie-Josephe de. Gustave Caillebotte: la vie, la technique, l'oeuvre peint. Lausanne, 1988:134.

1995

  • Distel, Anne, et. al. Gustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, The Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1994-1995: 270-273, repro.

1997

  • Bailey, Colin B._ Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an age_.Yale University Press New Haven and London, in association with National Gallery of Canada Ottawa, 1997: 3, 44 n. 23.

Inscriptions

center right: Renoir. 83.
Label: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Renoir Portrait de Mme Caillebotte, Lender Wildenstein & Co-E64 [indecipherable mark] NYC; Label: l63.61.1 Frink; Label: Frink L. 67.79; Label: C11730 Mrs A. Frink

Wikidata ID

Q20189652

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