PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919) Gabrielle à la blouse blanche stamped with the artist's signature 'Renoir' (upper left) oil on canvas 11 13/16 x 9 7/16 in (30 x 24 cm) Painted in 1907 Footnotes: This work will be included in the forthcoming Pierre-Auguste Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc. This work will be included in the second supplement to the Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles de Renoir, currently being prepared by Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville. Provenance Gabrielle Renard-Slade Collection, Cagnes & Los Angeles (a gift from the artist). John Slade Collection, Beverly Hills (by descent from the above circa 1959). Thence by descent to the present owner. Exhibited Los Angeles, Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Renoir, 1841-1919, September 15 - October 15, 1943, no. 29. San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir, November 1-30, 1944. 'La Belle Gabrielle, the little nanny who became a Renoir' It is with true delight that Bonhams presents 'A Lasting Impression: The Renoir Collection of Gabrielle Renard' alongside our marquee 20th & 21st Century Art auctions in New York in May 2026. The collection includes twenty-one almost entirely unseen works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, gifted by the artist to his muse, his studio assistant, caretaker and cherished friend, Gabrielle Renard; these have been kept close at heart for a century. 'A Lasting Impression' offers collectors a once in a lifetime moment to acquire works by Renoir with a unique and intensely personal provenance. Not only totally fresh to market, they represent a loving bond, an unappreciated influence, and a vital contribution to one of the masters of Impressionism and great painters of art history. All works remain unframed and untouched, exactly as they were in Gabrielle's home - treasures from an exceptional life. A distant cousin of Aline Charigot, Renoir's wife and mother to his three children, Gabrielle Renard joined the Renoir household in 1894, at only sixteen years old. As Aline insisted that only one Renoir child be in the home for any great length of time, the eldest child Pierre was sent away to school upon the birth of Renoir's second child, Jean. Gabrielle was originally employed to care for Jean, though she remained in the home to subsequently look after Claude, who was born in 1901 when Renoir was sixty years old. Almost immediately upon her arrival she captured the artist's imagination, he began sketching her form and incorporating her into his works, swiftly becoming one of Renoir's favored models; she is the subject of over 200 his paintings, more than any other muse. Her youthful and rosy-cheeked visage remains one of his most iconic motifs and beloved subjects, seen in major museums, art history books and auctions throughout the world. Not simply an artist's model or nanny, however, Gabrielle became part of the Renoir family. She dedicated two decades of her life to caring for the sons, followed by the artist himself in his later years, particularly after the death of Aline in 1915. To Aline, she was the mischievous housemaid, to Renoir she was the stubborn charismatic peasant-girl whom 'he dismissed [...] ('for good this time, do you hear, Gabrielle!') about once a month' (Claude Renoir quoted in 'Qui était Gabrielle, immortalisée par Renoir', Paris Match, no. 518, March 14, 1959). To the boys, however, she surpassed the role of domestic help and became 'Ga', their motherly figure and lifelong friend. As is so often the case with a nursemaid and their charges, they formed an unbreakable bond that almost transcends that of a parent and endures for a lifetime. Naturally, few have the fortune to have such fond moments captured so beautifully by one of the masters of modern art. Remaining devoted to the family until Renoir had passed away in 1919 and the children had grown-up, Gabrielle married Conrad Hensler-Slade, an affluent American and great admirer of Renoir, in Cagnes in 1921. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War and the occupation of France shortly afterwards, they emigrated to the United States. Alongside the exhibition of these works is the suitcase in which these treasured mementos of her earlier life were carried. Shortly afterwards, Jean Renoir also settled in Los Angeles, whilst Pierre and Claude remained in France. In 1942, LIFE magazine, arguably one of the most famous publications in the world, captured a series of intimate photographs of Jean Renoir and Gabrielle together in her home, allowing their bond to be fully recorded beyond the rich paintings of their youth. In this series of images, a number of the present works from Gabrielle's collection can be seen hanging, pride of place. Following Conrad's passing in 1950, Gabrielle moved to Beverly Hills to be closer to Jean and it was here that she spent her final years, passing away in February 1959. She was survived by her son, John - of course, the Anglicized name of Jean - who stewarded this beloved collection of Renoirs until his own death in April 2025, at 104 years old. Both Claude and Jean penned tributes to their precious Gabrielle in the months and years after her death. Claude, writing for Paris Match in March 1959, poured out an emotional homage to his childhood heroine, to 'Ga', with almost every sentence an emotive journey of recollection and fond memory. Some amusing: 'She loved teasing my father. When we traveled to Paris by train, we went first class, while 'Ga' sometimes rode third. She preferred it - it amused her greatly. Her favorite joke upon arrival was to say to my father: 'How is it, Monsieur Renoir? You left in first class, I in third, and yet we arrive together!'' Others more poignant: 'when I learned of her passing, it felt as though a part of me was leaving. [...] Not exactly grief, no, but truly something being torn away - a piece of yourself ripped out [...] one thing I know: I cannot recall a single event, joy, or even one of my rare childhood sorrows without seeing, like a delicate and touching watermark, the face of 'Ga'.' Jean, by this point a world-renowned film director, referenced Gabrielle throughout his 1974 autobiography, My Life and My Films, noting the profound influence she had on not just his life, but his career, famously noting: 'She taught me to see the face behind the mask and the fraud behind the flourishes.' The son of one of Impressionism's and art history's greatest painters, whose face is immortalized in countless works and whose own career had reached the world, chose to dedicate the parting lines of his life's story to his Gabrielle. Not a long tribute, but a childhood phrase so often called out to his boyhood hero: 'Wait for me, Gabrielle.' This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: Seller of the lot has been guaranteed a minimum price for its property by Bonhams or by a third party, or jointly by Bonhams and a third party (called third party guarantor). Such guaranteed minimum price may apply only to the lot or on an aggregate basis to all or a portion of the seller's consigned property, which may be offered in one or more auctions. Bonhams and/or any third parties providing a guarantee may benefit financially if the guaranteed property is 9 sold successfully and may incur a financial loss if its sale is not successful. The third party guarantor typically provides an irrevocable written bid on the guaranteed lot prior to the auction at a level that ensures the lot will sell. If there are competing bids at the auction, the th For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing