About the Cover
Romaine Lacaux, 1864
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919))
oil on fabric, Framed: 106.68 x 89.22 x 8.89 cm (42 x 35 1/8 x 3 1/2 inches); Unframed:
81.30 x 65.00 cm (32 x 25 9/16 inches). Gift of the Hanna Fund 1942.1065
Image Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art
This painting may be Renoir's earliest signed canvas. Its sensitive display of color
and light communicates an ideal of delicate, youthful beauty. The luminous tones of the
background drapery and of the child's white blouse result from the artist's careful
observation of reflected light and color on translucent materials. The delicate nuances
of color, particularly in the young girl's face, reveal Renoir's previous training as a
decorator of porcelain. He painted this portrait, commissioned by the vacationing
Lacaux family, during his stay at an artist's colony in the village of Barbizon, near
Paris.