Study of a Child

Artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841 - 1919)

CultureFrench

Dateca. 1905

MediumConté crayon on paper

Dimensions9 3/4 × 7 5/8 in. (24.8 × 19.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm)

SignedLower left: "Renoir"

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2754

Not on view

DescriptionDrawing of a young child with long hair in profile, facing left.

Label TextPierre-Auguste Renoir French (1841-1919) Study of a Child, ca. 1905 Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2754 From the time that he settled in Cagnes in southern France in 1903, Renoir delighted in making studies of his family and household. All three of his sons had long hair as children, and it is often difficult to distinguish one from the other in Renoir's portraits of them. Executed in the artist's characteristic soft red chalk style, the Chrysler's contemplative study of a child seems to represent Renoir's youngest son Claude, who was born in August 1901 and nicknamed Coco. The drawing's poetic aura of dreamy innocence typifies Renoir's depictions of childhood, as seen also in his Le Chapeau Épinglé on view in the same gallery. Exhibition History"France Delineated: French Works on Paper, 1650 to 1920", The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, July 13 - September 19, 1993. "Special Exhibition," Prints and Drawings Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, Fall 1989. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. Published ReferencesGuy-Patrice and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue Raisonne des Tableaux Pastels, Dessins et Aquarelles 1903- 1910 (Editions Bernheim-Jeune), 48A, fig. 3558 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 95, fig. 113.