Description:Dressed in a wide collared shirt, Claude Renoir is the quintessential image of a developing toddler. Intently studying an object just beyond the depicted picture plane, it is only a matter of time before the child bolts to a newly discovered mystery.
Executed in 1904, this is an example of the second state, printed with the artist’s signature on the stone in the lower right. The work belongs to the edition of 950 printed on vélin paper and was printed by Auguste Clot, Paris. From the Vollard Suite, this work was one of 12 lithographs published in the book l’Album des Douze LIthographies originales de Pierre Auguste Renoir.
With a down turned head, young Claude appears in a moment of tentative immobility. His face is marked by shifting bands of light, suggesting he is either in a shaded room or outside under a tree or other foliage. The child’s inquisitive stair, threatens to give way at any moment to the child’s developing question. Claude Renoir was born in 1901 when Renoir was 60 years of age. Michel Ferloni and Dominique Spies state, "it must have been a great joy for the nearly helpless Renoir to follow the smile or the games of this marvelous little being with chubby cheeks, still free as the air and bouncing with life, who was his son" (Ferloni, 56).
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
It is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the final sale of the work).
1) Delteil, Loys, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Etchings and Lithographs, 1999, listed as image 39 on page 84 - 85.
2) Stella, Dr. Joseph G., The graphic Work of Renoir, illustrated and listed as #39.
3) Roger-Marx, Claude, Les Lithographies de Renoir, listed as image 14.
4) Johnson, Una, Ambroise Vollard Editeur, 1944, book listed as cat. no. 151 on pgs 129 and 130.
5) Johnson, Una, Ambroise Vollard Editeur, 1977, book listed as cat no 118 on pgs 146-147.
About the Framing:
This work is presented in a Victorian inspired frame with ornate floral detail along the moulding face. The delicate detailing of the framing complements the artist’s graceful representation of form. Completed with white, linen-wrapped mats and a matching gold inner fillet, this work is set behind an archival Plexiglas® cover.
