A painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Limoges, 1841 - Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1919) thought to be lost was sold at auction yesterday in Paris for nearly two million euros (1,832,800 to be precise). The sale took place at the Hôtel Drouot where an auction of the Christophe Joron-Derem house was underway. The painting, L’enfant et ses jouets - Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean (“The child and his toys - Gabrielle and the artist’s son, Jean”) was sold to an international buyer after an intense competition. Christophe Joron-Derem, auctioneer and founder of the eponymous house, commented, “The success of this extraordinary work is the culmination of an extraordinary journey that took us from Louveciennes to the United States. To see this masterpiece emerge from obscurity and shine again at Drouot is immensely satisfying.” Scholar Pascal Perrin, who oversaw the sale, added, “The discovery of this work after more than a century has put Renoir and the Hôtel Drouot in the spotlight. Tonight’s result is a testimony to the extraordinary work, carried out in collaboration over several months with the Joron-Derem auction house.”
Painted before 1910 and kept in the same family since its creation, this work captures a tender maternal scene, offering a rare glimpse into the childhood of future filmmaker Jean Renoir (Paris, 1894 - Beverly Hills, 1979), director of La Grande Illusion, La Règle du jeu and Partie de campagne. The painting’s protagonist, Gabrielle Renard (1870-1959), nanny to Renoir’s children, was also one of the artist’s favorite models, and posed for nearly two hundred paintings. She entered the service of Aline Charigot, Renoir’s wife, at the age of sixteen and took care of the family’s three children, who always saw Gabrielle as a second mother, for over twenty years.
The painting originally belonged to Jeanne Baudot (1877-1957), Renoir’s only pupil and close friend, who even housed the artist’s studio on his Louveciennes property. In 1895, she became Jean Renoir’s godmother, along with Georges Durand-Ruel. Jeanne Baudot kept the painting until she bequeathed it to her spiritual son, Jean Griot, who served in General de Gaulle’s office during the war and later became editor of Le Figaro until 1975. He lived in the studio house in Louveciennes where Renoir had worked, preserving the painting and other works from Baudot’s collection.
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| France, Renoir painting believed lost resurfaces. Sold for nearly 2 million euros |
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