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The Daughters of Durand-Ruel
Artist:
Pierre Auguste Renoir
(French, 1841-1919)
Date: 1882
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
32 × 25 3/4 in. (81.3 × 65.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 42 1/2 × 36 5/8 × 4 5/8 in. (108 × 93 × 11.7 cm)
Classification: European art
Credit Line: Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in memory of Thelma Chrysler Foy
Object number: 71.518
Terms
- Children
- Girls
- Blue
- White
- Green
- Purple
- Black
- Yellow
- Red
- Impressionist
In Collection(s)
On view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. A double portrait of the two daughters of Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1921), art dealer for the Impressionists and son of Jean-Marie-Fortuné Durand and his wife Marie Ruel, owners of a famous art gallery in Paris. Jeanne, the younger girl with her hat off, and Marie-Therese are posed on a garden bench dressed in light-colored summer frocks.
Exhibition History"Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1-25, 1883.
"Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 1892.
"Tableaux de Renoir, Monet, Pissarro et Sisley," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1899.
"Renoir," Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, Feb. - March 1912.
"Portraits par Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 5 - 20, 1912.
"Renoir," Galerie Thannhauser, Munich, Germany, Jan. 19 - Feb. 13, 1913.
"Französische Kunst des XIX. und XX. Jahrhunderts," Kunsthaus, Zurich, Oct. 5 - Nov. 14, 1917.
"Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, Nov. 29 - Dec. 18, 1920.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, March 23 - April 29, 1950.
"Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, Nov. 8 - Dec. 15, 1951.
"Art Treasures Exhibition," Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. 1955, No. 359.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, April 8 - May 10, 1958.
"French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exhib. cat. no. 63).
"The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962.
"Four Masters of Impressionism," Acquavella Galleries, New York, Oct. 24 - Nov. 30, 1968, cat. no. 32.
"The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800-1900," Minneapolis Institute of Arts, July 3 - Sept. 7, 1969, cat. no. 72.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, March 27 - May 3, 1969.
"Faces from the World of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, Nov. 2 - Dec. 9, 1972.
"Paintings by Renoir," Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 3 - April 1, 1973.
"Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. (Exhib. cat. no. 41).
"Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 24).
"French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 38).
"Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age," National Gallery of Canada, June 27 - September 14, 1997; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 14, 1997 - January 4, 1998; Kimbell Art Museum, February 8 - April 26, 1998. (Exhib. cat. no. 44).
"In the Open Air: Impressionism and Its Influences," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, March 25 - June 5, 2005.
"Upstairs/Downstairs: Masterpieces from the Chrylser Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 10 - December 30, 2012.
"Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 9, 2013 - February 2, 2014.
"Paul Durand-Ruel," Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France, October 15, 2014 - February 8, 2015; National Gallery, London, England, March 4 - May 31, 2015; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, June 18 - September 13, 2015.
"Renoir: Rococo Revival," Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany, March 2 – June 19, 2022.
"Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 1892.
"Tableaux de Renoir, Monet, Pissarro et Sisley," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1899.
"Renoir," Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, Feb. - March 1912.
"Portraits par Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 5 - 20, 1912.
"Renoir," Galerie Thannhauser, Munich, Germany, Jan. 19 - Feb. 13, 1913.
"Französische Kunst des XIX. und XX. Jahrhunderts," Kunsthaus, Zurich, Oct. 5 - Nov. 14, 1917.
"Renoir," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, Nov. 29 - Dec. 18, 1920.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, March 23 - April 29, 1950.
"Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, Nov. 8 - Dec. 15, 1951.
"Art Treasures Exhibition," Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. 1955, No. 359.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, April 8 - May 10, 1958.
"French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exhib. cat. no. 63).
"The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962.
"Four Masters of Impressionism," Acquavella Galleries, New York, Oct. 24 - Nov. 30, 1968, cat. no. 32.
"The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800-1900," Minneapolis Institute of Arts, July 3 - Sept. 7, 1969, cat. no. 72.
"Renoir," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, March 27 - May 3, 1969.
"Faces from the World of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Wildenstein Gallery, New York, Nov. 2 - Dec. 9, 1972.
"Paintings by Renoir," Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 3 - April 1, 1973.
"Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. (Exhib. cat. no. 41).
"Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 24).
"French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 38).
"Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age," National Gallery of Canada, June 27 - September 14, 1997; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 14, 1997 - January 4, 1998; Kimbell Art Museum, February 8 - April 26, 1998. (Exhib. cat. no. 44).
"In the Open Air: Impressionism and Its Influences," Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, March 25 - June 5, 2005.
"Upstairs/Downstairs: Masterpieces from the Chrylser Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 10 - December 30, 2012.
"Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 9, 2013 - February 2, 2014.
"Paul Durand-Ruel," Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France, October 15, 2014 - February 8, 2015; National Gallery, London, England, March 4 - May 31, 2015; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, June 18 - September 13, 2015.
"Renoir: Rococo Revival," Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany, March 2 – June 19, 2022.
Label textPierre-Auguste Renoir
French, 1841–1919
The Daughters of Durand-Ruel, 1882
Oil on canvas
Dozens of colors come together to evoke the dazzling effect of sunlight on these girls’ white dresses. Despite the quick brushstrokes, Pierre-Auguste Renoir did not sacrifice details for effect. He carefully rendered the laces of the girls’ boots, the younger sitter’s black ribbon necklace, and even the flower on the brim of the straw bonnet. An Impressionist masterpiece, the double portrait depicts the daughters of Paul Durand-Ruel—a Parisian art dealer who championed the work of artists like Renoir.
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in memory of Thelma Chrysler Foy 71.518
French, 1841–1919
The Daughters of Durand-Ruel, 1882
Oil on canvas
Dozens of colors come together to evoke the dazzling effect of sunlight on these girls’ white dresses. Despite the quick brushstrokes, Pierre-Auguste Renoir did not sacrifice details for effect. He carefully rendered the laces of the girls’ boots, the younger sitter’s black ribbon necklace, and even the flower on the brim of the straw bonnet. An Impressionist masterpiece, the double portrait depicts the daughters of Paul Durand-Ruel—a Parisian art dealer who championed the work of artists like Renoir.
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in memory of Thelma Chrysler Foy 71.518
Published References
Ambroise Vollard, _Renoir: an intimate record_ (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1934).
"Renoir," loan exhib. cat., Wildenstein Gallery, New York, 1951, no. 41.
"Loan Exhibition Renoir," exhib. cat., Wildenstein Gallery, New York City, Ny., 1958, 54, no. 40.
Sales Catalogue No. 1905, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., May 15-16, 1959, 39.
"New York Times," May 14, 1959.
"New York Herald Tribune," May 14, 1959.
Priscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam, _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Oh., 1960, no. 63.
Charles F. Comfort and William S.A. Dale, _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_, exh. cat., Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Provincetown, Ma., 1962, not paged.
Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tn., 1977, no. 41.
Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1978, no. 24.
_The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 63.
Thomas E. Norton, foreword by Douglas Dillon, _100 Years of Collecting in America: The Story of Sotheby Parke Bernet_ (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1984), 171.
Barbara Ehrlich White, _Renoir: His Life, Art and Letters_ (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1984), 128-129. ISBN: 0810915553
Jefferson C. Harrison, _French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1986, no. 38. ISBN: 0-940744-54-6
Laura C. Lieberman, "Select Offerings: French Paintings From The Chrysler Museum," _Southern Accents_ 9, no. 6 (November 1986): 46-50.
Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 142-143, no. 113. ISBN: 0-940744-59-7, 0-940744-62-7
Colin B. Bailey, _Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age_, exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 1997, 190-197, 202.
Christie's London, _Impressionist & Nineteenth Century Art_, auction cat., Tuesday, June 29, 1999, London, England, 36.
John House and Sona Johnston, _Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections_ (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1999), 156.
Barbara Dayer Gallati, "William Merritt Chase and the French Connection," _The Magazine Antiques_ CLVIII, no. 1 (July 2000): 74-83.
Gilles Néret, _Renoir: Painter of Happiness_ (Köln, Germany: Taschen, 2001), 206.
Professor Takao Okamura, "Renoir" (Special Edition) _Shukan Bijutsukan [The Weekly Museum]_ (January 30, 2001): 37.
Paul Clancy, _Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began_ (San Antonio, TX: Historical Publishing Network, 2006), 34, 78 & 215. ISBN: 9781893619654
Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), Cover & 47, fig. 46. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
Martha Lucy and John House, _Renoir in the Barnes Foundation_ (Yale University Press, 2012), 87, fig. 1.
Susan Jaques, _A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art Museums_, (Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2012), 126-127.
Sylvie Patry, ed. _Paul Durand-Ruel: Le Pari de L'Impressionnisme_ (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, in conjunction with Musée du Luxembourg, 2014) 36-37, 185, fig. 20.
Caroline Le Got, "Renoir portraitiste attritré de la famille Durand-Ruel," _Beaux Arts éditions_, October 2014, 16-17.
Sylvie Patry, ed., _Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market_ (London: The National Gallery Company with Yale University Press, 2015) p. 45, fig. 24.
_Exhibition on Screen: The Impressionists and the Man Who Made Them_, DVD. Directed by Phil Grabsky (Brighton, UK: Seventh Art Productions, 2015).
Provenance
Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1882-1921; Mme André-Felix Aude (née Marie Thérèse Durand-Ruel), Paris; to the Comtesse de Brecey (née Madeleine Aude, daughter of Mrs. André-Felix Aude née Marie-Thérèse Durand-Ruel); purchased by Wildenstein and Co., New York, 1938; to Mrs. Byron C. Foy, New York, 1944-1957; estate of Thelma Chrysler Foy, 1957-1959; Foy sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, May 13, 15-16, 1959; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971.
Catalogue EntryPierre Auguste Renoir
French, 1841-1919
The Daughters of Durand-Ruel, 1882
Oil on canvas, 32" x 25¾" (81.3 x 65.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: _Renoir. 82_
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in Memory of Thelma Chrysler Foy, 71.518
References: François Daulte, _Renoir_, New York, 1973, p. 78; Harrison, _CM_, 1986, no. 38.
In 1833 Jean-Marie-Fortuné Durand and his wife Marie (née Ruel) expanded their Paris stationer's shop to include a commercial art gallery. This establishment, the Galerie Durand-Ruel, became one of Europe's most prestigious art houses, playing a major role in the promotion and eventual public acceptance of avant-garde painting in late-nineteenth-century France.
The gallery's spectacular rise can be credited largely to Fortuné and Marie's son Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1921), who joined the family firm in 1851 and became its guiding force after 1865. Paul Durand-Ruel initially used the gallery to promote the work of such mid-century painters as Delacroix, Corot and the Barbizon masters. But encounters in London in 1871 with Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro redirected his interests toward a more radical group of younger French painters, the Impressionists. Returning to Paris, the dealer rapidly established himself as the city's most enthusiastic promoter of the Impressionist group - Monet, Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir - and he remained the group's most faithful commercial supporter during its early decades of struggle. In 1888 he opened a gallery in New York, attracting a new clientele of wealthy American collectors (see no. 118). "Without him," Renoir reportedly said, 'we would not have survived."
Durand-Ruel met Renoir in Paris at the end of the Franco-Prussian War and purchased his first pictures from him in 1872. Within a decade the dealer was buying Renoir's paintings regularly and in quantity, and the two had become close colleagues. Thus, in 1882, when Durand-Ruel asked the artist to paint his children, Renoir readily obliged. He did a portrait of Durand-Ruel's eldest son Joseph and a double portrait of younger sons Charles and Georges, both of which are in the Durand-Ruel collection in Paris. Renoir also produced The Chrysler Museum painting, an enchanting double portrait of Durand-Ruel's two daughters, Marie-Thérèse, then fourteen, and the twelve-year-old Jeanne.
Dressed in light summer frocks and Milan straw hats (Jeanne's rests beside her), the sister pose on a garden bench, smiling amid the coolness and dappled light of their tree-shaded perch. Executed entirely out-of-doors, the picture retains the vibrant "rainbow palette" and vigorous open brushwork - the broad scatter of gay color touches - of Renoir's "pure" Impressionist paintings of the later 1870s.
Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 142-143, no. 113.
French, 1841-1919
The Daughters of Durand-Ruel, 1882
Oil on canvas, 32" x 25¾" (81.3 x 65.4 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: _Renoir. 82_
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in Memory of Thelma Chrysler Foy, 71.518
References: François Daulte, _Renoir_, New York, 1973, p. 78; Harrison, _CM_, 1986, no. 38.
In 1833 Jean-Marie-Fortuné Durand and his wife Marie (née Ruel) expanded their Paris stationer's shop to include a commercial art gallery. This establishment, the Galerie Durand-Ruel, became one of Europe's most prestigious art houses, playing a major role in the promotion and eventual public acceptance of avant-garde painting in late-nineteenth-century France.
The gallery's spectacular rise can be credited largely to Fortuné and Marie's son Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1921), who joined the family firm in 1851 and became its guiding force after 1865. Paul Durand-Ruel initially used the gallery to promote the work of such mid-century painters as Delacroix, Corot and the Barbizon masters. But encounters in London in 1871 with Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro redirected his interests toward a more radical group of younger French painters, the Impressionists. Returning to Paris, the dealer rapidly established himself as the city's most enthusiastic promoter of the Impressionist group - Monet, Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir - and he remained the group's most faithful commercial supporter during its early decades of struggle. In 1888 he opened a gallery in New York, attracting a new clientele of wealthy American collectors (see no. 118). "Without him," Renoir reportedly said, 'we would not have survived."
Durand-Ruel met Renoir in Paris at the end of the Franco-Prussian War and purchased his first pictures from him in 1872. Within a decade the dealer was buying Renoir's paintings regularly and in quantity, and the two had become close colleagues. Thus, in 1882, when Durand-Ruel asked the artist to paint his children, Renoir readily obliged. He did a portrait of Durand-Ruel's eldest son Joseph and a double portrait of younger sons Charles and Georges, both of which are in the Durand-Ruel collection in Paris. Renoir also produced The Chrysler Museum painting, an enchanting double portrait of Durand-Ruel's two daughters, Marie-Thérèse, then fourteen, and the twelve-year-old Jeanne.
Dressed in light summer frocks and Milan straw hats (Jeanne's rests beside her), the sister pose on a garden bench, smiling amid the coolness and dappled light of their tree-shaded perch. Executed entirely out-of-doors, the picture retains the vibrant "rainbow palette" and vigorous open brushwork - the broad scatter of gay color touches - of Renoir's "pure" Impressionist paintings of the later 1870s.
Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 142-143, no. 113.
