Cat. 11

Two Sisters (On the Terrace)1
1881
Oil on canvas; 100.4 × 80.9 cm (39 1/2 × 31 7/8 in.)
Signed: Renoir. 81. (lower right, in blue paint)
The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.455

A Jewel in the Collection of Paul Durand-Ruel

With its representation of rowing and sailboats moored at the quay and its elevated point of view over a verdant landscape, Two Sisters (On the Terrace) is a colorist’s homage to the pastoral experience of Chatou. The painting brings to a close Renoir’s work at the Restaurant Fournaise painting views of leisure boating along the Seine, a period that began in 1875, the year he painted Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Rower’s Lunch) (cat. 2). Why the artist abandoned the popular establishment and its convivial owners remains a mystery, as Renoir loved it there and recommended it to others. Writing in the late summer of 1880 to the collector Georges de Bellio, Renoir explained that he was too busy with Luncheon of the Boating Party (fig. 11.1 [Daulte 379; Dauberville 224]) to come to Paris, but he urged de Bellio to visit him at Chatou: “You would do well to choose a day and come to lunch. You will not be sorry you made the trip; this is the most attractive spot in the countryside around Paris.”2 Two Sisters (On the Terrace) is the Primavera (Allegory of Spring) to Luncheon of the Boating Party’s summer bacchanal.3 The leaves are still unfurling on the trees, and bright spring blossoms abound. In a letter to Théodore Duret from Chatou on Easter Monday, April 18, 1881, Renoir again expressed reluctance to leave for a planned trip to England with the art critic because of his work on Two Sisters (On the Terrace): “I am struggling with trees in bloom, with women and children, and wish to see nothing beyond that. . . . The weather is fine and I have my models; that’s my only excuse.”4

Soon after the painting was finished, the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel purchased it from Renoir as Femme sur une terrasse au bord de la Seine for 1,500 francs, the sum Renoir reportedly had received three years earlier for the substantially larger portrait Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children (1878; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [Daulte 266; Dauberville 239]).5 Given the difficulties Renoir expressed in executing the painting and the high price he received, one could speculate that the work was commissioned by the dealer. The role of Two Sisters (On the Terrace) as a promotional vehicle for Impressionism began almost immediately, when a rare color reproduction was published in late 1881 in L’art de la mode.6 In March 1882 the painting was included in the seventh Impressionist exhibition with the new title Les deux soeurs (see fig. 11.2). Durand-Ruel contributed twenty-five Renoir works from his stock after the artist refused to participate because he perceived Paul Gauguin and Camille Pissarro to be overly political.7 The following year the painting reappeared under a third title—Femme sur une terrasse (Chatou)—in Renoir’s retrospective exhibition organized by Durand-Ruel and held on the boulevard de la Madeleine.8 Although Two Sisters (On the Terrace) was an eminently salable work, Durand-Ruel did not part with it for nearly four and a half decades.9 The painting was reproduced as an etching in a full-page illustration in Georges Lecomte’s 1892 account of Durand-Ruel’s private collection, one of a select number of Impressionist paintings the dealer kept for himself (see fig. 11.3). Not surprisingly, Lecomte presented Durand-Ruel as a visionary who at an early date recognized the innovative accomplishment of the Impressionists even while the French State remained undecided. For Lecomte the works in Durand-Ruel’s private collection offered a complete history of Impressionism and represented the best of each artist’s talent.10 In his discussion of Two Sisters (On the Terrace), Lecomte praised the color in the landscape elements and, in describing the figure of the young woman, commented on Renoir’s evocation of the Old Masters: “The insinuating and crafty grace of her sly face is accentuated by the malicious obliquity and alarming smile in her eyes. She has the look of a modern Mona Lisa who knows all about love and seduction and is shamelessly flirting with you.”11 While the Durand-Ruel family owned the painting, it appeared before the public in at least seventeen exhibitions or gallery displays and was continually reproduced (see Exhibition History and Selected References). It was only after Paul Durand-Ruel’s death in June 1922 that the painting was sold to Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn of Chicago (see Provenance).

The Models for Two Sisters (On the Terrace)

Despite the title Les deux soeurs, assigned to the painting by Durand-Ruel for the 1882 Impressionist exhibition, the little girl was not the sister of the seated figure, who was eighteen-year-old Eugénie Marie Darlaud, known as Jeanne Darlaud, an aspiring actress (see fig. 11.4).12 For his painting Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir depicted known habitués of the Restaurant Fournaise as well as an elite group of cultural aficionados, including the actress Jeanne Samary, who had recently been appointed sociétaire of the Comédie Française. In Two Sisters (On the Terrace) he again drew from the Parisian theater world. Here Darlaud played the role of a canotière (rower), a free spirit who divided her time between Parisian dance halls and a life of leisure along the Seine. Such a character was later immortalized in Guy de Maupassant’s novel Yvette (1884), but even in 1881 the canotière had been inspiring writers and poets for some time.13

Paul Durand-Ruel first made the association between this painting and the Darlaud family in 1923, when he mistakenly recalled that the young woman pictured was Jeanne Darlaud’s younger sister Anne (known by her stage name, Jane Demarsy), who also modeled for Renoir. Durand-Ruel’s confusion may have arisen because Anne posed for Renoir in an unknown setting wearing the same boating costume: a blue dress with a cape or hood attached, and a hat of the same design with beige finish around the brim, but blue rather than red (fig. 11.5 [Daulte 424; Dauberville 1060]).14 It was the art historian François Daulte who eventually identified the model as Jeanne.15 The collector and art dealer René Gimpel described the Darlaud sisters as girls of humble origins who worked for Renoir as a necessary source of income.16 As Colin Bailey discovered, they were the daughters of a bookbinder and a brocade weaver, and their grandfather was a cabinetmaker from Limoges who probably knew Renoir’s father, Léonard, a tailor from that city.17 Jeanne Darlaud entered the Conservatoire in August 1882 and soon afterward began a busy career on the French stage, from which she retired in 1899. After her death in 1914, her cash assets totaled more than 574,000 francs, the result of gifts from a wealthy and generous seigneur, apparently the chocolate manufacturer Gaston Menier, who was listed as the trustee of her hôtel particulier on the avenue de Friedland.18

The little girl in the painting has never been identified, and the artist left no clues to the relationship she might share with the young woman, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions. Difference in age is not enough to explain the lack of engagement, the look of boredom that Lecomte took for crafty grace or the apparent absence of emotion in the child’s expression. Certainly in Madame George Charpentier and Her Children (fig. 11.6), Renoir proved himself capable of conveying warmth and love between family members. That he seems to have made no attempt to do so in Two Sisters (On the Terrace) may have to do with the fact that it is a genre painting, while the other is a portrait commissioned by an important patron. In its treatment of the subject of an adult and a child, Two Sisters (On the Terrace) is conspicuously different from a painting of the same year by Berthe Morisot, Eugène Manet and His Daughter at Bougival (fig. 11.7), which also appeared in the seventh Impressionist exhibition.19

An Innovative Impressionist Painting

If Two Sisters (On the Terrace) presents an idyllic scene, timeless in its serenity, its composition is quite sophisticated, with surprising contrasts in the figure-ground relationship. For the landscape setting Renoir used loose, expressive brushwork, whereas he rendered the figures with a more controlled brush and precise modeling of solid colors. He painted directly on the canvas, using red lake to outline at least some of the forms, as can be seen around the seated figure’s right eye (fig. 11.8). There are no known preparatory sketches, though the artist had dealt with the theme of a single female figure on a terrace at least twice in the previous two years, in Alphonsine Fournaise in 1879 (fig. 11.9 [Daulte 301; Dauberville 321]) and Young Girl Seated in about 1880 (fig. 11.10 [Daulte 356; Dauberville 323]).20 In the latter painting, the young woman sits in a chair with a fabric back and arms, of comparable design to that in Two Sisters (On the Terrace). Changes to the background to the right of Jeanne Darlaud’s head and above the planter indicate that Renoir wished to subdue objects in the background landscape to give it a more nascent, diaphanous look in keeping with the season. For example, the shoreline path may originally have included two figures above the railing to the left of Jeanne’s head, visible in the infrared image (fig. 11.11). Renoir painted over these in favor of a single rowing figure in a skiff that blends into the line of the river.

In the background, thin layers of pink and blue tones were laid in first for the water, followed by short strokes of denser blues and whites to convey a rich and varied river surface with light playing over the ripples and waves. The foliage and tree branches were painted with the lightest of touches in greens, pale grays, and mauves. So transparent are the paint layers that they seem like a veil through which can be glimpsed skiffs, moored sailboats, and the opposite bank. There is plenty of white or light-colored paint in the background that increases the impression of sparsity in the vegetation, especially along the left side of the canvas. Infrared imaging reveals that Renoir originally painted a second set of curving decorations between the rails of the balcony and halfway down their length. Traces of this decoration are still visible beneath the upper paint layers to the left of the seated figure’s elbow (see fig. 11.12). Their removal allowed the blossoming trees behind to have a fuller and wilder presence.

Compared to the gossamer landscape, the two female figures are finely modeled with generous amounts of paint. This distinctly different treatment of background and figure was a change from Renoir’s work of the 1870s, where he made use of a “pantheistic” brushstroke that did not differentiate between the viewing planes. Alfred Sisley (1876; cat. 4), exhibited at the third Impressionist exhibition of April 1877, is a good example of the stippled brushwork of these 1870s portraits. In contrast, the flesh tones in Two Sisters (On the Terrace) were painted with barely visible strokes that carefully integrated the red and white tones. The deep blue of the young woman’s boating costume appears sculptural against the willowy trees and spring blooms that surround her. The blending of red lake over the blue creates darker shadows in the dress at the elbow, while the highlights of reflected sunlight on her chest result from thin films of yellow. Despite the firmer appearance of the figures, they are no less luminous. There is plenty of lead white in the little girl’s dress, and the flesh tones have a porcelain-like clarity, touched with red to give color to the cheeks. In depicting the young woman wearing a bright red hat with her dark blue dress, Renoir achieved a striking juxtaposition of primary colors. An audacious rendering, but one that may have been inspired by the bold fashions of boaters on the Seine. In his novel Yvette, Guy de Maupassant related that the canotières at this time wore “a dress of blue flannel or red flannel, a parasol, also red or blue, open over their head, brilliant under the hot sun. . . .”21

The basket of wool appears to have been included in order to give the foreground more substance and color. Such an accessory was unlikely to have been found on the premises of the Maison Fournaise, which rented boats and ran a restaurant, unless it was brought by one of the boarding guests. The wool seems of little interest to either of the figures, who interact with it no more than they interact with each other. Colin Bailey has pointed out that criticism of Renoir frequently incorporated references to wool; he surmises that “Renoir incorporates this critical trope in order to deflate it.”22

Two Sisters (On the Terrace) is a genre painting that portrays what Renoir valued most about everyday life along the Seine: the opportunity for enjoyment of nature and good company away from the urban distractions of Paris.
John Collins

Technical Report

Technical Summary

The work was executed on a standard-size, commercially prepared [glossary:canvas] with a manufacturer’s stamp on the verso, now only visible in transmitted light due to a subsequent [glossary:lining] (see Conservation History). The canvas is of a fine [glossary:weave] and has a smooth, white [glossary:ground] that moderately fills the weave. While there is no apparent [glossary:underdrawing], examination in transmitted light indicates that Renoir may have outlined some of the major forms at some point early in the painting process. The nature and sequence of these lines is ambiguous, as some appear to have been worked into the upper paint layers while still wet. [glossary:Transmitted-light] and [glossary:X-ray] images also illustrate that changes were made to the figures. The woman’s head and hat were altered and her right arm brought closer to her body. The artist heavily painted out his original placement of the woman’s facial features before settling on the final arrangement, but the faint outline of an eye is visible above and to the right of her left eye, indicating more substantial changes. These images also show something of Renoir’s working method, especially with regard to the child. Here he wiped away flesh-colored paint from the child’s forehead and cheeks and altered the color and texture in these areas with subsequent, much thinner paint layers. The artist used scraping to remove previous compositional choices along the right side of the woman’s collar and in large areas of the background. This reworking is apperent only in the x-ray; there is a no textural evidence of it on the surface. He reworked much of the background, exchanging fuller, more substantial foliage for the finer, more ephemeral leaves and vines now visible.

Multilayer Interactive Image Viewer

The multilayer interactive image viewer is designed to facilitate the viewer’s exploration and comparison of the technical images (fig. 11.13).23

Signature

Signed and dated: Renoir. 81. (lower right, in blue paint) (fig. 11.14, fig. 11.15).24

Structure and Technique

Support
Canvas

Flax (commonly known as linen).25

Standard format

The original dimensions of the canvas were approximately 100 × 81 cm, according to 1972 pretreatment measurements. This is consistent with measurements from the apparent original [glossary:foldover] and corresponds to a no. 40 portrait ([glossary:figure]) standard-size (100 × 81 cm) canvas.26

Weave

[glossary:Plain weave]. Average [glossary:thread count] (standard deviation): 30.9V (0.8) × 25.9H (1.1) threads/cm. The vertical threads were determined to correspond to the [glossary:warp] and the horizontal threads to the [glossary:weft].27

Canvas characteristics

There is mild [glossary:cusping] corresponding to the placement of the original tacks. The thread density along the warp (vertical) threads increases toward the right side of the canvas (fig. 11.16). The warp threads near the right edge of the canvas have [glossary:primary cusping], which indicates that this canvas was near the edge of the preprimed roll during commercial preparation (fig. 11.17).28 Any evidence of an unprimed edge or selvedge was removed from this side before or just after stretching.

Stretching

Current stretching: When the painting was relined and restretched in 1972, the original dimensions were increased slightly on all sides (see Conservation History).

Original stretching: Based on secondary cusping visible in the X-ray, the original tacks were placed approximately 5–8 cm apart.

Stretcher/strainer

Current stretcher: Five-member [glossary:ICA spring stretcher] with a metal horizontal [glossary:crossbar]. Depth: 2.8 cm.

Previous stretcher: Because the painting was already lined when the 1972 treatment was undertaken, it is unclear whether the stretcher that was removed at that time was original to the painting; however, that stretcher was a six-member, keyable, mortise-and-tenon stretcher with vertical and horizontal crossbars. Depth: approximately 1.6 cm.29

Manufacturer’s/supplier’s marks

Stamp
Location: verso of original canvas (covered by lining)
Method: ovular stamp
Content: [COULEURS FINES & TOILES À TABLEAUX] / P: APRIN / PARIS / [48 RUE DE DOUAI 48] (fig. 11.18, fig. 11.19)30

Preparatory Layers
Sizing

Not determined (probably glue).31

Ground application/texture

The painting features a two-layer commercial ground that extends to the edges of the [glossary:tacking margins]. The layer lower is approximately 3–45 µm thick, while the upper layer is approximately 15–75 µm thick. Overall the preparation is smooth and moderately fills the weave. The ground is left visible in some areas of the painting, especially on the upper left.

Color

The upper layer of the ground appears white, with no colored particles visible under stereomicroscopic or cross-sectional examination (fig. 11.20). The lower, chalk-based layer appears creamy white in cross sections.

Materials/composition

The commercial preparation is a two-layer priming beginning with a calcium-carbonate (chalk) layer (fig. 11.21); this layer also contains traces of complex silicates (clays).32 The upper layer is predominantly lead white with a small amount of calcium-based white and traces of barium sulfate, silica, alumina, and complex iron-containing silicates (fig. 11.22).33 The [glossary:binder] of the upper layer is estimated to be [glossary:oil].34

Compositional Planning/Underdrawing/Painted Sketch
Extent/character

No underdrawing was observed with [glossary:infrared reflectography] or under microscopic examination. In transmitted light and transmitted infrared, outlines can be seen around the major forms, but it is unclear at which stage in the painting process these lines were made (fig. 11.18). Close examination of the eyes under the microscope indicates that Renoir may also have used red lake to mark forms in the early painting stages (fig. 11.23).

Paint Layer
Application/technique and artist’s revisions

The X-ray, infrared, and [glossary:transmitted-light] images indicate that Renoir made a number of changes to the composition. They also reveal something of his technique and application of paint. In some areas, evidence of scraping back and painting out earlier forms hints at compositional changes; however, the exact nature of these changes remains hidden. In certain places, the artist seems to have wiped or scraped paint away, then further painted out evidence of earlier choices to give himself a cleaner slate, as in the background to the right of the woman’s head. In many areas of the background, especially immediately around the woman’s head, large strokes resembling heavy tree branches or shrubs, and an unidentified round form on the right, appear to have been painted out in favor of finer, more atmospheric foliage. Immediately behind the figures, heavier greenery, like that still visible on the left above the basket, is still faintly discernible behind the vines and finer strokes of vegetation. On the left, above the railing, Renoir seems to have initially articulated a shoreline path with two walking figures, seen in infrared examination (fig. 11.24), which were subsequently painted out and replaced with a skiff and rower (fig. 11.25). Most of the background itself appears to be underpainted in modulated blues and pinks, perhaps related to the depiction of the water, while the upper layers—including the finer branches, leaves, and vines—were brought in around the figures. For the most part, the upper two thirds of the background were executed with thinned paint and a dry brush, creating an almost feathered effect. The artist also made small changes to compositional elements immediately surrounding the figures. The planter on the right initially had three dark bands across it, resembling a wine cask, and the angle of the chair back immediately to the right of the woman’s shoulder was subtly changed. In the lower left corner, the X-ray shows heavy diagonal strokes where Renoir painted out his initial choice before executing the last skeins of yarn [glossary:wet-in-wet].

The artist made changes to the woman’s face and hat; however, the nature of these changes is not entirely clear. It appears that the profile of the hat was softened and rounded in the later painting stages. The flower embellishments were established early and later partially obscured by the addition of the golden-colored brim (fig. 11.26). The woman’s posture appears slightly altered at the shoulders, her right arm is closer to her body, and her waist is slimmer (fig. 11.27). Heavy diagonal strokes across and around the woman’s head probably indicate previous choices painted out by Renoir (fig. 11.28). Amid these strokes, above and slightly to the right of the eyes, the outline of an earlier left eye is faintly visible, indicating perhaps more radical changes to this figure’s face. The visible composition and the thickness of these diagonal strokes camouflage the nature of these changes. Elsewhere the artist appears to have scraped away paint to change the composition, as seen in the woman’s collar on the right.

Renoir also made changes to the child, slightly altering the silhouette of her hat, moving her hands and possibly her arms, and perhaps thinning her face. The X-ray indicates that the child’s hands may have been slightly closer to the woman, or farther from the viewer in space, while the infrared image suggests that the fingers were initially longer and more relaxed. The X-ray and transmitted-light images also reveal that the artist used wiping to clear away some of the paint on the child’s face, namely on her cheek and parts of her hair (fig. 11.29). The flesh tones appear to have been thinly painted before the heavier tones were applied, and wiping removed the heavy, opaque flesh tones in favor of a more translucent layer that takes advantage of the reflective qualities of the ground. After wiping the cheeks to reveal the thin underpaint, Renoir applied a thin, translucent pink tone over the area to balance the transition (fig. 11.30). There is a notable difference in effect between the child’s cheeks and the woman’s face. The child’s hat was altered in color, decoration, and shape. The artist appears to have begun painting the hat with a paler wet-in-wet mixture of blue and white still visible on either side of the floral decoration. One flower on the left and perhaps two or three on the right appear in the X-ray, while the rest were added later. The crown of the hat was also shortened and is now almost entirely hidden by flowers. The dark-blue, green, and red lake shadows around the underside of the hat were also added in a later painting stage.

Painting tools

Round and flat brushes, mostly fine, with some strokes up to 1 cm wide; cloth for wiping; [glossary:palette knife] for scraping.

Palette

Analysis indicates the presence of the following [glossary:pigments]:35 lead white, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, emerald green, viridian, vermilion, red lake, iron oxide yellow and brown, chrome yellow, and zinc yellow.36

The observation of a characteristic orange [glossary:fluorescence] under [glossary:UV] light indicates that Renoir used large amounts of red lake in the figures’ flesh tones, the woman’s hat, various flowers, the yarn on the lower left, and select portions of the background (fig. 11.31).37

Binding media

Oil (estimated).38

Surface Finish
Varnish layer/media

The current [glossary:synthetic varnish] dates from the 1972 treatment, which removed a previous [glossary:natural-resin varnish]. It is unclear whether this natural-resin varnish was original to the painting or applied during a previous treatment.

Conservation History

The painting was first examined in 1956 and found to have flaking and [glossary:cleavage] along the woman’s collar.39 A loan exam from the following year lists the painting as aqueously lined and sagging, with buckling of the canvas and small losses throughout.40 At this time the painting was also noted as being varnished, having a substantial layer of grime, and being loose within its frame. Preloan treatment was proposed and included relaxing the buckles with local application of wax, [glossary:keying out] the stretcher, and removing the grime layer. It is unclear whether this treatment was ever undertaken.

The painting was treated in 1972 in preparation for exhibition. Conditions noted at the time included a brittle lining, flattened [glossary:impasto] (presumably from the previous lining), and a discolored natural-resin varnish.41 During this treatment, grime, varnish, and the lining were removed, and the work was faced with mulberry-fiber paper and starch paste in preparation for lining. The old six-member stretcher was discarded, and the work was wax-resin lined and then tacked to a four-member ICA spring stretcher of slightly larger dimensions (100 × 81 cm). The work was inpainted and given a synthetic varnish (an isolating layer of polyvinyl acetate [PVA] AYAA, followed by methacrylate resin L-46, inpainting, and a final coat of AYAA).

Condition Summary

The work is in good condition, planar with a stable wax-resin lining and few losses. Curiously, during the 1972 treatment, a vertical strip of unidentified white material, containing large amounts of zinc, was applied either to the lining canvas or to the verso of the painting before the lining was applied (fig. 11.32).42 Either before or during the lining process, this material dried and cracked, and the original canvas settled into these cracks during the lining process so that deformations are visible on the surface in raking light (fig. 11.33). As a result of this lining, the original canvas is saturated with wax resin and very dark, and the ground layer also appears darker. [glossary:Retouching] during the 1972 treatment was mostly limited to abrasions on both figures’ faces and on the extended perimeter. Along the bottom edge, the perimeter was extended so that some of the tack holes are now on the front, and previous tearing around these old tack holes was filled and retouched, as in the bottom left corner. There is fine cracking throughout both hats and the woman’s blue dress. Zinc yellow found throughout has darkened slightly, giving it a more earthy hue (fig. 11.34).43 The work has a synthetic varnish that imparts an even gloss and saturation.
Kelly Keegan

Frame

Current frame (installed 1997/98): The frame is not original to the painting. It is a French, mid-seventeenth-century, Louis XIII, carved gilt torus frame with laurel-and-berry garlands, flower centers, and corner acanthus leaves. The frame has water gilding over red-brown bole on gesso and retains its original gilding and aged glue [glossary:sizing]. The ornament and sight molding are selectively burnished, and the cove frieze and fillet are burnished. The carved oak molding is mitered and joined with angled, dovetailed splines. The molding, from the perimeter to the interior, is cove; torus face with laurel-and-berry garlands, flower centers, corner acanthus leaves, and strapped corners; cove front frieze bordered with fillets; and ogee with leaf-tip sight molding (fig. 11.35).44

Previous frame (installed mid 1960s, removed 1997/98): The painting was previously housed in an American (APF Master Frame Makers, New York), mid-twentieth-century, Louis XVI reproduction, architrave frame of basswood, mitered and nailed, with water gilding over red bole on sprayed gesso. The molding featured ribbon-and-stave ornament, a lozenge-and-bead sight molding, and an independent gilt liner (fig. 11.36).45

Previous frame (installed prior to 1933, removed mid-1960s): The painting was previously housed in a French (Paris), late-nineteenth-century, Durand-Ruel, Régence Revival, ogee frame with cast foliate center and corner cartouches, and an independent liner.46 The frame had water and oil gilding over bole on cast plaster and gesso. Two different shades of gold were used: one alloy on the outer frame and another on the liner. The bole color was also varied: red bole was used on the perimeter molding, the cast foliate ornament on the ogee and sight moldings, the scotia sides, and the liner; and red-orange bole was used on the sanded frieze and bordering fillets. The ornament and sight molding were selectively burnished, and the liner was burnished. The frame had an overall bronze tone, with casein or gouache raw umber and gray washes. The frame had a glued pine substrate with a cast plaster face. The molding, from perimeter to interior, was fillet with cast, stylized, running, undulating bands with rhomboid center punches; scotia side; ogee face with a cast crosshatched bed and center and corner foliate and floral cartouches with cabochon centers on a double-lined diamond bed with punched centers; fillet; sanded front frieze; fillet; ogee with stylized leaf-tip-and-shell sight molding; and an independent fillet liner with a cove sight edge (fig. 11.37).
Kirk Vuillemot

Provenance

Sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel, Paris, July 7, 1881, for 1,500 francs.47

Sent by Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Durand-Ruel, New York, 1922.48

Sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn, Chicago, Feb. 4, 1925, for $100,000.49

Bequeathed by Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn (died 1932) to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.

Exhibition History

Paris, 251, rue Saint-Honoré, Salons du Panorama de Reischoffen, 7me exposition des artistes independants [seventh Impressionist exhibition], Mar. 1–31, 1882, cat. 138, as Les deux soeurs.50

Paris, Durand-Ruel, Exposition des oeuvres de P.-A. Renoir, Apr. 1–25, 1883, cat. 30, as Femme sur une terrasse (Chatou).51

New York, American Art Galleries, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, Apr. 10–28, 1886, cat. 181; New York, National Academy of Design, May 25–June 30, 1886, as On the Terrace.52

Paris, Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, cat. 92, as La terrasse. Appartient à M. J. D.53

Berlin, Expo, 1895.54

Saint Petersburg, Internationale de la revue “Le monde artiste à St. Petersbourg,” 1899.55

Paris, Durand-Ruel, Exposition de tableaux de Monet, Pissarro, Renoir & Sisley, Apr. 1899, cat. 81, as Sur la terrasse. 1881.56

Brussels, Libre Esthétique, Exposition des peintres impressionnistes, Feb. 25–Mar. 29, 1904, cat. 130, as Sur la terrasse. Appartient à M. Durand-Ruel.57

Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, Salon d’automne, Oct. 15–Nov. 15, 1904, cat. 12, as Sur la terrasse.58

London, Grafton Galleries, Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Exhibited by Messrs. Durand-Ruel & Sons, Jan.–Feb. 1905, cat. 239, as On the Terrace. 1881.59

Berlin, Paul Cassirer, Französische Meister, Ferner werke von Max Liebermann, Walter Leistikow, Ulrich Hübner, Constantin Meunier, Mar. 16–mid-June 1906, cat. 30, as Die Terrasse.60

London, Palace of Fine Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, May 14–Oct. 31, 1908, cat. 397, as La terrasse. Appartient à M. Durand-Ruel.61

Munich, Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Ausstellung Auguste Renoir, mid-Jan.–mid-Feb. 1912, cat. 9, as Sur la terrasse. 1881.62

Berlin, Paul Cassirer, VI. Ausstellung, Feb.–Mar. 1912, cat. 9.63

Paris, Manzi, Joyant & Cie, Exposition d’art moderne, June 5–July 6, 1912, cat. 180, as Sur la terrasse.64

Kunsthaus Zurich, Französische Kunst des XIX. u. XX. Jahrhunderts, Oct. 5–Nov. 14, 1917, cat. 169, as Sur la terrasse. Coll. D.-R.65

Paris, Durand-Ruel, Tableaux, pastels-dessins par Renoir (1841–1919), Nov. 29–Dec. 18, 1920, cat. 52.66

Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, Apr. 6–Oct. 9, 1932, cat. 33 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress”: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, May 23–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 348 (fig. 11.38).67

Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress” Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture for 1934, June 1–Oct. 31, 1934, cat. 237.68

Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 1934, cat. 15.69

New York, Durand-Ruel, Views of the Seine by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Jan. 11–30, 1937, cat. 6 (ill.).70

New Haven, Conn., Yale University Gallery of Fine Arts, French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Feb. 18–Mar. 4, 1937, cat. 1.

New York, Duveen Galleries, Renoir: Centennial Loan Exhibition, 1841–1941; For the Benefit of the Free French Relief Committee, Nov. 8–Dec. 6, 1941, cat. 35 (ill.).

New York, Wildenstein, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition; For the Benefit of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York City, Inc., Apr. 8–May 10, 1958, no. 31 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3–Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 34 (ill.).

Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, Shikago bijutsukan insho-ha ten [The Impressionist tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago], Oct. 18–Dec. 17, 1985, cat. 35 (ill.); Fukuoka Art Museum, Jan. 5–Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4–Apr. 13, 1986.

Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” Sept. 21, 1996–Feb. 23, 1997, cat. 58 (ill.).71

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, June 27–Sept. 14, 1997, cat. 40 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 17, 1997–Jan. 4, 1998; Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, Feb. 8–Apr. 26, 1998. (fig. 11.39)

Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Auguste Renoir, “The Two Sisters (On the Terrace)”: From the Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, July 3–Sept. 16, 2001, no cat.72

Wuppertal, Germany, Von der Heydt-Museum, Renoir und die Landschaft des Impressionismus, Oct. 28, 2007–Jan. 27, 2008, no cat. no. (ill.).

Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 28 (ill.).

Selected References

Ernest Hoschedé, L’art de la mode (1881), (ill.).73

Catalogue de la 7me exposition des artistes independants, exh. cat. (Morris Pére et Fils, 1882), cat. 138.74

La Fare, “Exposition, des impressionnistes,” Le gaulois, Mar. 2, 1882, p. 2.

Henry Havard, “Exposition des artistes indépendants,” Le siécle, Mar. 2, 1882, p. 2.75

A. Hustin, “L’exposition des peintres indépendants,” L’estafette, Mar. 3, 1882, p. 3. Reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/University of Washington Press, 1996), p. 395.

Draner, “Une visite aux impressionnistes,” Le charivari, Mar. 9, 1882, p. 3. Reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/University of Washington Press, 1996), pp. 386, 417.

A. Hustin, “L’exposition des impressionnistes,” Moniteur des arts (Mar. 10, 1882), p. 1. Reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/University of Washington Press, 1996), p. 396.

Durand-Ruel, Catalogue de l’exposition des oeuvres de P.-A. Renoir, exh. cat. (Pillet & Dumoulin, 1883), p. 12, cat. 30.76

Ph. B. [Philippe Burty], “Les peintures de M. P. Renoir,” La republique française (Apr. 15, 1883), p. 3.

American Art Association, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, exh. cat. (J. J. Little/American Art Galleries, 1886), p. 31, cat. 181.77

American Art Association, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, exh. cat. (National Academy of Design, 1886), p. 45, cat. 181.78

Georges Lecomte, L’art impressionniste d’après la collection privée de M. Durand-Ruel (Chamerot & Renouard, 1892), pp. 137 (ill.), 204, 207.

Durand-Ruel, Paris, Exposition A. Renoir, exh. cat. (Imp. de l’Art/E. Ménard, 1892), pp. 33; 34; 46, cat. 92.79

Richard Muther, The History of Modern Painting, vol. 2 (Henry, 1896), p. 748 (ill.).80

Durand-Ruel, Paris, Exposition de tableaux de Monet, Pissarro, Renoir & Sisley, exh. cat. (Imp. de l’Art, 1899), p. 11, cat. 81.81

Camille Mauclair, “L’oeuvre d’Auguste Renoir,” L’art décoratif 41, pt. 1 (Feb. 1902), pp. 173 (ill.), 179.

Camille Mauclair, “L’oeuvre d’Auguste Renoir,” L’art décoratif 42, pt. 2 (Mar. 1902), p. 224.

Camille Mauclair, The Great French Painters and the Evolution of French Painting from 1830 to the Present Day, trans. P. G. Konody (E. P. Dutton, [1903]), pp. 112, 114 (ill.).

Wynford Dewhurst, Impressionist Painting: Its Genesis and Development (Newnes, 1904), p. 52.

Maurice Hamel, “Le salon d’automne,” Les arts 35 (Nov. 1904), p. 35 (ill.).

Camille Mauclair, L’impressionnisme: Son histoire, son esthétique, ses maîtres, 2nd ed. (Librairie de l’Art Ancien et Moderne, 1904) pp. 112, 137–138. Translated by P. G. Konody as The French Impressionists (1860–1900) (Duckworth/E. P. Dutton, [1903]), pp. 120, 124.

Octave Maus, Exposition des peintres impressionnistes, exh. cat. (Libre Esthétique, 1904), p. 43, cat. 130.82

Léon Plée, “Le salon d’automne,” Les annales politiques & littéraires 43, 1113 (Oct. 23, 1904), pp. 257; 261; (ill.).

Société du Salon d’Automne, Catalogue de peinture, dessin, sculpture, gravure, architecture et arts décoratifs, exh. cat. (Hérissey, 1904), p. 114, no. 12.83

Grafton Galleries, Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Exhibited by Messrs. Durand-Ruel & Sons, exh. cat. (Strangeways and Sons, 1905), p. 22, cat. 239.84

Grafton Galleries, A Selection from the Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley (Durand-Ruel and Sons, 1905), p. 35, cat. 239 (ill.).

Henry Morison, “Auguste Renoir, Impressionist,” Brush and Pencil 17, 5 (May 1906), pp. 201, 203.

British Art Committee, Souvenir of the Fine Art Section, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, Complied by Sir Isidore Spielmann (Bemrose & Sons, 1908), pp. 101; 309.

Franco-British Exhibition, Catalogue of the Fine Art Section, 4th ed., exh. cat. (Bemrose and Sons, 1908), p. 181, no. 397.85

Vittorio Pica, Gl’impressionisti francesi (Istituto Italiano d’Arti Grafiche, 1908), pp. 84 (ill.), 98.

Arsène Alexandre, “Exposition d’art moderne á hotel de la revue ‘Les arts,’” Les arts 128 (Aug. 1912), pp. 5, no. 7 (ill.); 12.

Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Ausstellung Auguste Renoir, exh. cat. (R. Piper, [1912]), cat. 9.86

Manzi, Joyant & Cie, Exposition d’art moderne, exh. cat. (Manzi, Joyant, 1912), cat. 180.

Bernheim-Jeune, Renoir, with a preface by Octave Mirbeau (Bernheim-Jeune, 1913), p. 19.

Zürcher Kunsthaus, Französische Kunst des XIX. u. XX. Jahrhunderts, exh. cat. (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 1917), p. 24, cat. 169.87

Ambroise Vollard, Tableaux, pastels & dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol. 1 (A. Vollard, 1918), pp. 84, no. 334 (ill.); 177.

Georges Lecomte, “L’oeuvre de Renoir,” L’art et les artistes 4, 14 (Jan. 1920), pp. 146, 147 (ill.).

Willy Burger, “August [sic] Renoir,” Die Kunst für Alle 35 (Feb. 9/10, 1920), p. 169 (ill.).

Georges Rivière, Renoir et ses amis (H. Floury, 1921), opp. p. 134 (ill.).

Durand-Ruel, Paris, Tableaux pastels-dessins par Renoir, exh. cat. (Imp. de l’Art, 1920), cat. 52.88

Paul Jamot, “Renoir (1841–1919),” Gazette des beaux-arts 8, 5, pt. 2 (Dec. 1923), pp. 323, 325 (ill.).

François Fosca, Renoir (F. Rieder, 1923), pp. 20; 62; pl. 25. Translated by Hubert Wellington as Renoir, Masters of Modern Art (Dodd, Mead, 1924), pp. 5; 21–22; pl. 18.

Ambroise Vollard, Renoir: An Intimate Record, trans. Harold L Van Doren and Randolph T. Weaver (Knopf, 1925), p. 240.

Royal Cortissoz, Seven Paintings by Renoir (Durand-Ruel, c. 1923), pp. 7, 8, 9, 22–23 (ill.).

Royal Cortissoz, Personalities in Art (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925), pp. 279, 281, 282.

Royal Cortissoz, “Auguste Renoir and the Cult for Beauty,” International Studio 90, 375 (Aug. 1928), p. 20.

Julius Meier-Graefe, Renoir (Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929), p. 142, no. 119 (ill.).

Carroll Carstairs, “Renoir,” Apollo 10, 55 (July 1929), p. 36 (ill.).

Royal Cortissoz, The Painter’s Craft (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), p. 233.

Reginald Howard Wilenski, French Painting (Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931), p. 262.

“On the Terrace: From a Painting by August [sic] Renoir,” Christian Science Monitor 24, 201 (July 22, 1932), p. 7 (ill).

Daniel Catton Rich, “The Bequest of Mrs. L. L. Coburn,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 26, 6 (Nov. 1932), pp. 67 (ill.), 68.

Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Mrs. L. L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Watercolors, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), pp. 6; 23, no. 33; 51, no. 33 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of “A Century of Progress”: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), pp. 49–50, cat. 348.

Art Institute of Chicago, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, Report for the Year Nineteen Hundred Thirty-Two 27, 3, pt. 2 (Mar. 1933), p. 22 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “The Century of Progress Exhibition of the Fine Arts,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27, 4 (Apr.–May 1933), p. 67.

Art Institute of Chicago, “The Rearrangement of the Paintings Galleries,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27, 7 (Dec. 1933), p. 115.

Daniel Catton Rich, “Art in Chicago,” Vogue 82, 2 (July 15, 1933), p. 38 (ill.).

Daniel Catton Rich, “The Exhibition of French Art: ‘Art Institute’ of Chicago,” Formes 33 (1933), (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of “A Century of Progress”: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), p. 40, cat. 237.

Clarence Joseph Bulliet, Art Masterpieces in a Century of Progress Fine Arts Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 2 (Chicago Daily News/North-Mariano Press, 1933), no. 116 (ill.).

Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, exh. cat. (Toledo Museum of Art, 1934), cat. 15.

Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The Art of Renoir (Minton, Balch, 1935), pp. 77; 78; 79; 83; 84; 86; 270, no. 119 (ill.); 405–06, no. 119; 453.

Claude Roger-Marx, Renoir, Anciens et Modernes (H. Floury, 1937), p. 85 (ill.).

Durand-Ruel, New York, Views of the Seine by Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, Sisley, exh. cat. (Durand-Ruel, 1937), cat. 6 (ill.).

Yale University Gallery of Fine Arts, An Exhibition of French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, exh. cat. (Yale University Press, 1937), cat. 1.

Henry McBride, “The Renoirs of America: An Appreciation of the Metropolitan Museum’s Exhibition,” Art News 35, 31 (May 1, 1937), pp. 60, 73 (ill.).

Théodore Duret, Renoir, trans. Madeleine Boyd (Crown, 1937), pl. 3.

Lionello Venturi, Les archives de l’impressionnisme: Lettres de Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley et autres; Mémoires de Paul Durand-Ruel; Documents, vol. 2 (Durand-Ruel, 1939), p. 268.

Reginald Howard Wilenski, Modern French Painters (Reynal & Hitchcook, [1940]), opp. p. 39, pl. 12; p. 8.89

Charles Terrasse, Cinquante portraits de Renoir (Librairie Floury, 1941), p. 6; pl. 22.

Duveen Galleries, Renoir: Centennial Loan Exhibition, 1841–1941; For the Benefit of the Free French Relief Committee (Vilmorin/Bradford, 1941), pp. 57, cat. 35 (ill.); 139, cat. 35.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Department of Reproductions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 38, 2 (Feb. 1944), p. 28.90

Art Institute of Chicago, “Department of Reproductions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 38, 5 (Sept.–Oct. 1944), p. 85.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Department of Reproductions,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 38, 7 (Dec. 1944), p. 116 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), p. 36.91

“Chicago Perfects Its Renoir Group,” Art News 44, 16, pt. 1 (Dec. 1–14, 1945), p. 18.

Hans Huth, “Impressionism Comes to America,” Gazette des beaux-arts 29 (1946), p. 239, n. 22.

Louis Zara, ed., Masterpieces, Home Collection of Great Art 1 (Ziff-Davis, 1950), cover (ill.), pp. 4, 117.

Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces in the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1952), (ill.).

Charles Fabens Kelley, “Chicago: Record Years,” Art News 51, 4 (June–Aug. 1952), p. 54 (ill.).

Dorothy Bridaham, Renoir in the Art Institute of Chicago (Conzett & Huber, 1954), front cover; pl. 5.

M. K. R., “An Exhibition for Paris,” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 49, 2 (Apr. 1955), p. 29.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Notes,” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 50, 3 (Sept. 15, 1956), p. 59.

Wildenstein, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York City, Inc. (Gallery Press, 1958), p. 45, no. 31 (ill.).

François Fosca, Renoir: L’homme et son oeuvre (A. Somogy, 1961), pp. 85, 117 (ill.), 281. Translated by Mary I. Martin as Renoir, His Life and Work (Prentice-Hall, 1962), pp. 85, 113 (ill.), 269.

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), pp. 283 (ill.), 396–97.92

René Gimpel, Journal d’un collectionneur, marchand de tableaux (Calmann-Lévy, 1963), pp. 181, 225. Translated by John Rosenberg as Diary of an Art Dealer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966), pp. 157, 212.

Walter Pach, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Library of Great Painters (Abrams, [1964]), pp. 70–71 (ill.).93

Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (Sept. 1966), p. 203.

Charles C. Cunningham, Instituto de arte de Chicago, El mundo de los museos 2 (Editorial Codex, 1967), pp. 12, ill. 33 and ill. 34; 58, fig. 3; 59 (detail).

André Parinaud, Art Institute of Chicago, Grands musées 2 (Hachette-Filipacchi, [1968]), pp. 36, ill. 3; 37 (detail); 69, ill. 33 and ill. 34.

Elda Fezzi, Renoir (Sadea/Sansoni, 1968), pp. 21; 36; fig. 31. Translated into French by Simone de Vergennes as Renoir, Les petits classiques de l’art (Flammarion, 1969), p. 34; pl. 31.

Charles C. Cunningham and Satoshi Takahashi, Shikago bijutsukan [Art Institute of Chicago], Museums of the World 32 (Kodansha, 1970), pp. 48, pl. 34; 49, pl. 35 (detail); 159.

John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (Abrams, 1970), p. 87 (ill.).94

François Daulte, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. 1, Figures, 1860–1890 (Durand-Ruel, 1971), pp. 268–69, cat. 378 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “Summer Gallery Talks,” Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago 65, 3 (May–Aug. 1971), p. 18.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Exhibition Schedule,” Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago 66, 2 (Mar. 1972), p. 7 (ill.).

Elda Fezzi, L’opera completa di Renoir: Nel periodo impressionista, 1869–1883, Classici dell’arte 59 (Rizzoli, 1972), p. 109, cat. 471 (ill.).95

Art Institute of Chicago, “Lecturer’s Choice,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 67, 4 (Jul.–Aug. 1973), p. 11.

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), pp. 26; 96–97, cat. 34 (ill.); 210–11; 212; 213 (ill.); 214.

John Rewald, “Jours sombres de l’impressionnisme, Paul Durand-Ruel et l’expostition des impessionnistes, à Londres, en 1905,” L’oeil 223 (Feb. 1974), pp. 15 (ill.), 18.

Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Art Institute of Chicago, 1978), pp. 102–03, pl. 58.

Patricia Erens, Masterpieces: Famous Chicagoans and Their Paintings (Chicago Review, 1979), p. 57.

J. Patrice Marandel, The Art Institute of Chicago: Favorite Impressionist Paintings (Crown, 1979), front cover (detail), p. 106.

Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et son époque: Dictionnaire international illustré, vol. 2 (Denoël, 1979), pp. 172, 175.

Joel Isaacson, The Crisis of Impressionism, 1878–1882, exh. cat. (University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1980), p. 32.

Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (Abbeville, 1980), pp. 260 (ill.), 261 (detail), 438.96

Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism, Tiny Folios (Abbeville, 1980), back cover (ill.); p. 161, pl. 20.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Special Programs,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 75, 1 (Jan.–Mar. 1981), p. 19.

Gerd Betz, Auguste Renoir: Leben und Werk (Belser, 1982), pp. 44, 51 (ill.).

Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters (Abrams, 1984), pp. 104–05 (ill.), 106.

Art Institute of Chicago, Seibu Museum of Art, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, and Fukuoka Art Museum, eds. Shikago bijutsukan insho-ha ten [The Impressionist tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago], trans. Akihiko Inoue, Hideo Namba, Heisaku Harada, and Yoko Maeda, exh. cat. (Nippon Television Network, 1985), front cover (ill.); pp. 18 (ill.); 81, cat. 35 (ill.); 146; 147, cat. 35 (ill.).

Joel Isaacson, “The Painters Called Impressionists,” in The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886, ed. Charles S. Moffett, with Ruth Berson, Barbara Lee Williams, and Fronia E. Wissman, exh. cat. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986), pp. 387, 394, 395.

Richard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1987), pp. 55, 70 (ill.), 71, 119.

Ministry of Culture; State Hermitage Museum; Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Art Institute of Chicago, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: Shedevry frantsuzskoi zhivopisi XIX–nachala XX veka, iz Muzeia Metropoliten v N’iu-Iorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Masterpieces of French painting of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago], trans. from English by Iu. A. Kleiner and A. A. Zhukov, exh. cat. (Avrora, 1988), p. 64.

Sophie Monneret, Renoir, Profils de l’art (Chêne, 1989), p. 153, fig. 15.

Rachel Barnes, ed., Renoir by Renoir, Artists by Themselves (Webb & Bower, 1990), pp. 40–41 (ill.). Translated into Japanese by Reiko Kokatsu as Runowaru (Renoir), Nikkei Pocket Gallery (Nihon Keizai, 1991), pp. 46–47 (ill), 87.

David Bomford, Jo Kirby, John Leighton, and Ashok Roy, Art in the Making: Impressionism exh. cat. (National Gallery, London/Yale University Press, 1990), pp. 190; 191, pl. 200.

Lesley Stevenson, Renoir (Bison Group, 1991), pp. 106–07 (ill.), 109.

Martha Kapos, ed., The Impressionists: A Retrospective (Hugh Lauter Levin/Macmillan, 1991), p. 234, pl. 74.

Anne Distel, Renoir: “Il faut embellir” (Gallimard/Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1993), pp. 77 (ill. and details), 169. Translated as Renoir: A Sensuous Vision (Thames & Hudson, 1995), pp. 77 (ill. and details), 169.

Art Institute of Chicago, Treasures of 19th- and 20th-Century Painting: The Art Institute of Chicago, with an introduction by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Abbeville, 1993), p. 87 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, selected by James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein, entries written and compiled by Sally Ruth May (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), p. 157 (ill.).97

Gerhard Gruitrooy, Renoir: A Master of Impressionism (Todtri, 1994), pp. 49, 70 (ill).

Christie’s, New York, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (Part I), sales cat. (Christie’s, New York, May 11, 1995), p. 38, fig. 1.

Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/University of Washington Press, 1996), pp. 377, 386, 395, 396, 400, 417.

Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886; Documentation, vol. 2, Exhibited Works (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/University of Washington Press, 1996), pp. 210, 229 (ill.).

Francesca Castellani, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La vita e l’opera (Mondadori, 1996), pp. 138, 149 (ill.).

Eliza E. Rathbone, “Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party: Tradition and the New,” in Eliza E. Rathbone, Katherine Rothkopf, Richard R. Brettell, and Charles S. Moffett, Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” exh. cat. (Phillips Collection/Counterpoint, 1996), p. 49.

Eliza E. Rathbone, Katherine Rothkopf, Richard R. Brettell, and Charles S. Moffett, Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” exh. cat. (Phillips Collection/Counterpoint, 1996), pp. 216, pl. 58; 259.

Katherine Rothkopf, “From Argenteuil to Bougival: Life and Leisure on the Seine, 1868–1882,” in Eliza E. Rathbone, Katherine Rothkopf, Richard R. Brettell, and Charles S. Moffett, Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” exh. cat. (Phillips Collection/Counterpoint, 1996), p. 64.

Colin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 175; 186–189, cat. 40 (ill.); 301, n. 14; 308–10, cat. 40. Translated by Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagné, with support from Nada Kerpan for the texts by Linda Nochlin, as Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d’une époque, exh. cat. (Gallimard/Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), pp. 175; 186–89, cat. 40 (ill.); 301, n. 14; 308–10, cat. 40.

Douglas W. Druick, Renoir, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1997), front cover (ill.); pp. 6; 43 (detail); 49; 50–51; 54–55; 72; 80; 93, pl. 12; 110.

Sophie Monneret, Sur le pas de impressionnistes (Éd. de la Martinière, 1997), p. 96.

Charles Moffett, “Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Women at the Water’s Edge,” in The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Impressionists and Modern Masters, ed. Libby Lumpkin, exh. cat. (Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Mirage Resorts, 1998), pp. 47, 50 (ill.).98

Kimbell Art Museum, “Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age,” Calendar (Aug. 1997–Jan. 1998), p. 14 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 1999), p. 59 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Shikago bijutsukan [The Art Institute of Chicago], Museums of the World 22 (Kodansha, 2000), p. 20 (ill.).

Barbara Dayer Gallati, William Merritt Chase: Modern American Space, 1886–1890, exh. cat. (Brooklyn Museum of Art/Abrams, 2000), pp. 42; 43, fig. 11.

Belinda Thomson, Impressionism: Origins, Practice, Reception (Thames & Hudson, 2000), p. 206, ill. 207; 207; 268.

Paul Joannides, Renoir: Sa vie, son oeuvre (Soline, 2000), pp. 1 (detail), 90–91 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 2000), front cover (ill.); pp. 9, 10, 71 (ill.), 76.

Art Institute of Chicago, Treasures from the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood, commentaries by Debra N. Mancoff (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 2000), back cover (ill.); pp. 183, 206 (ill.).

Gilles Néret, Renoir: Painter of Happiness, 1841–1919, trans. Josephine Bacon (Taschen, 2001), pp. 2 (ill.), 440.

Simona Barrolena, Impressionismo (Mondadori Electa, 2002), p. 168 (ill.).

Sculpture Foundation, Solid Impressions: J. Seward Johnson, Jr. (Sculpture Foundation, 2002), pp. 60 (ill.), 70.

Philippe Cros, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Terrail, 2003), pp. 84, 88–89 (ill.).

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited; The Sculptures of J. Seward Johnson, Jr., with an essay by Petra Ten-Doesschate Chu (Bulfinch, 2003), p. 121 (ill.).

Norio Shimada, Inshoha bijutsukan [History of impressionism] (Shogakukan, 2004), p. 436 (ill.).

Aviva Burnstock, Klaas Jan van den Berg, and John House, “Painting Techniques of Pierre-Auguste Renoir: 1868–1919,” Art Matters: Netherlandish Technical Studies in Art 3 (2005), p. 52.

Kyoko Kagawa, Runowaru [Pierre-Auguste Renoir], Seiyo kaiga no kyosho [Great Masters of Western Art] 4 (Shogakukan, 2006), p. 58 (ill.).

Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, exh. cat. (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art/University of Washington Press, 2007), pp. 97; 98, fig. 33.

Colin B. Bailey, “Rowers at Chatou, 1880–1,” in Renoir Landscapes, 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London, 2007), pp. 212, fig. 102; 214. Translated by Marie-Françoise Dispa, Lise-Éliane Pomier, and Laura Meijer as Colin B. Bailey, “Les canotiers à Chatou, 1880–1881,” in Les paysages de Renoir 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle), exh. cat. (National Gallery, London/5 Continents, 2007), pp. 212, fig. 102; 214.

Colin B. Bailey, “‘The Greatest Luminosity, Colour and Harmony’: Renoir’s Landscapes, 1862–1883,” in Renoir Landscapes, 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London, 2007), pp. 65, 70. Translated as Colin B. Bailey, “‘Un maximum de luminosité; de coloration, et d’harmonie’: Les paysages de Renoir, 1862–1883,” in Les paysages de Renoir 1865–1883, ed. Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, trans. Marie-Françoise Dispa, Lise-Éliane Pomier, and Laura Meijer, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London/5 Continents, 2007), pp. 65, 70.

Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, with the collaboration of Camille Frémontier-Murphy, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 1, 1858–1881 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), pp. 299–300, cat. 254 (ill.).

Peter Kropmanns, “Renoir und der Impressionismus,” in Auguste Renoir und die Landschaft des Impressionismus, ed. Gerhard Finckh, exh. cat. (Von der Heydt-Museum, 2007), pp. 74–75 (ill.).

Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 10 (detail); 24 (ill.); 74–75, cat. 28 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 10 (detail); 24 (ill.); 74–75, cat. 28 (ill.).99

Art Institute of Chicago, The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), p. 218 (ill.).

Anne Distel, Renoir (Citadelles & Mazenod, 2009), pp. 194; 195, ill. 181; 239.

Art Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James Cuno (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2009), p. 59 (ill.).

Adrien Goetz, Comment Regarder . . . Renoir (Hazan, 2009), p. 135 (ill.).

Marie-Christine Decrooq, “Monet und Durand-Ruel: Die Finanzkrise und die 7. Impressionisten-Ausstellung im Licht ihrer Korrespondenz (Januar bis März 1882) aus dem Archiv Cornebois,” in Claude Monet, ed. Gerhard Finckh, exh. cat. (von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, 2009), p. 59 (ill.).

Sylvie Patry, “Renoir, Revolutionary and Classical,” in Sounjou Seo, Renoir: Promise of Happiness, exh. cat. (Seoul Museum of Art, 2009), p. 30, fig. 7.

Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, “Paul Durand-Ruel and Renoir: 47 Years of Friendship,” in Sounjou Seo, Renoir: Promise of Happiness, exh. cat. (Seoul Museum of Art, 2009), pp. 158; 161; 166, n. 13; 167, n. 47; 275; 276; 279, n. 13 and n. 47.

Greg M. Thomas, Impressionist Children: Childhood, Family, and Modern Identity in French Art (Yale University Press, 2010), pp. 50; 51, fig. 56.

Caroline Homes, Impressionists in Their Garden (Antique Collectors’ Club, 2012), pp. 132–33 (ill.).

Debra N. Mancoff, Fashion in Impressionist Paris (Merrell, 2012), pp. 138–39 (ill.), 149.

Bernhard Echte and Walter Feilchenfeldt, eds., with assistance by Petra Cordioli, Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer: Die Ausstellungen 1905–1908 (Nimbus. Kunst und Bücher, 2013), pp. 208 (ill.), 213, 803.

Other Documentation

Documentation from the Durand-Ruel Archives

Inventory number
Stock Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1451, Livre de stock Paris 1880–82100

Inventory number
Stock Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1214, Livre de stock Paris 1891101

Inventory number
Deposit Durand-Ruel, New York, 8124, Livre de dépôt Paris 1902–04 and Livre de stock New York 1904–24102

Photograph number
Photo Durand-Ruel Paris 120103

Other Documents

Label (fig. 11.40)104

Label (fig. 11.41)105

Label (fig. 11.42)106

Labels and Inscriptions

Pre-1980

Stamp
Location: verso of original canvas (covered by lining)
Method: ovular stamp
Content: [COULEURS FINES & TOILES À TABLEAUX] / P: APRIN / PARIS / [48 RUE DE DOUAI 48] (fig. 11.43)107

Label
Location: previous backing board (discarded); preserved in conservation file
Method: handwritten script on gray label
Content: ancien titre / No / femme et fillette au bord / de la mer (fig. 11.44)

Label
Location: previous [glossary:backing board] (discarded); preserved in conservation file
Method: handwritten script on brown paper label
Content: Renoir No. 8124 / Sur la terrasse / 1881 (fig. 11.45)

Label
Location: previous backing board (discarded); preserved in conservation file
Method: handwritten script on gray-brown paper label
Content: Re[n]oir No 1214 / Sur la terrace (1881) / [. . .]239[. . .] (fig. 11.46)

Label
Location: previous backing board (discarded); preserved in conservation file
Method: handwritten script on red-and-white label
Content: C11651 / Art Institute / of Chicago (fig. 11.47)

Post-1980

Label
Location: backing board
Method: printed label
Content: The Phillips Collection / America’s first museum of modern art / 1600 21st Street NW Washington, D.C. 20009-1090 / Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration / of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” / September 21, 1996–February 9, 1997 / Artist Renoir / Title Two Sisters (On the Terrace) / Date 1881 / Medium oil on canvas / Dimensions 39 1/2 × 31 7/8 in. (100.3 × 81 cm) / Lender Art Institute of Chicago / Reg # 1996.53.4 Plate # 58 (fig. 11.48)

Label
Location: backing board
Method: printed and typed label
Content: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO / artist Pierre Auguste Renoir / title On The Terrace, 1881 / medium oil on canvas / credit / acc. # 1933.455 / LZ-341-001 1M 1/90 (Rev. 1/90) (fig. 11.49)

Label
Location: backing board
Method: printed label
Content: Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age / Cat.No.: 40 / Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir / Title: Two Sisters (On the Terrace) / Owner: Art Institute of Chicago (fig. 11.50)

Number
Location: stretcher
Method: handwritten script (pen and marker)
Content: 1933.455 (fig. 11.51)

Label
Location: stretcher
Method: printed and typed label with blue stamp
Content: [stamp] Inventory—1980–1981 / FROM / THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60603, U. S. A. / To / Renoir, Pierre Auguste / On the Terrace 1881 / 1933.455 (fig. 11.52)

Stamp
Location: stretcher
Method: blue stamp
Content: Inventory—1980–1981 (fig. 11.53)

Examination and Analysis Techniques

X-radiography

Westinghouse X-ray unit, scanned on Epson Expressions 10000XL flatbed scanner. Scans were digitally composited by Robert G. Erdmann, University of Arizona.

Infrared Reflectography

Inframetrics Infracam with 1.5–1.73 µm filter; Fujifilm S5 Pro with X-Nite 1000B/2 mm filter (1.0–1.1 µm); Goodrich/Sensors Unlimited SU640SDV-1.7RT with H filter (1.1–1.4 µm) and J filter (1.5–1.7 µm).

Transmitted Infrared

Fujifilm S5 Pro with X-Nite 1000B/2 mm filter (1.0–1.1 µm).

Visible Light

Natural-light, raking-light, and transmitted-light overalls and macrophotography: Fujifilm S5 Pro with X-NiteCC1 filter.

Ultraviolet

Fujifilm S5 Pro with X-NiteCC1 filter and Kodak Wratten 2E filter.

High-Resolution Visible Light (and Ultraviolet)

Sinar P3 camera with Sinarback eVolution 75 H (Kodak Wratten 2E filter, PECA 918 UV/IR interference cut filter).

Microscopy and Photomicrographs

Sample and [glossary:cross-sectional analysis] were performed using a Zeiss Axioplan 2 research microscope equipped with reflected light/[glossary:UV fluorescence] and a Zeiss AxioCam MRc5 digital camera. Types of illumination used: [glossary:darkfield], brightfield, differential interference contrast ([glossary:DIC]), and UV. In situ photomicrographs were taken with a Wild Heerbrugg M7A StereoZoom microscope fitted with an Olympus DP71 microscope digital camera.

X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF)

Several spots on the painting were analyzed in situ with a Bruker/Keymaster TRACeR III-V with rhodium tube.

Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM)

Zeiss Universal research microscope.

Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDX)

[glossary:Cross sections] were analyzed after carbon coating with a Hitachi S-3400N-II VPSEM with an Oxford EDS and a Hitachi solid-state [glossary:BSE] detector. Analysis was performed at the Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental (NUANCE) Center, Electron Probe Instrumentation Center (EPIC) facility.

Electron Microprobe

Applied Research Laboratories (ARL) electron microprobe analyzer. Analysis was carried out at McCrone Associates, Chicago, Illinois.

Automated Thread Counting

Thread count and weave information were determined by Thread Count Automation Project software.108

Image Registration Software

Overlay images were registered using a novel image-based algorithm developed by Damon M. Conover (GW), Dr. John K. Delaney (GW, NGA), and Murray H. Loew (GW) of the George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.109

Image Inventory

The image inventory compiles records of all known images of the artwork on file in the Conservation Department, the Imaging Department, and the Department of Medieval to Modern European Painting and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago (fig. 11.54).

cat. 11  Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881.
fig. 11.14

Detail of the signature in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.15

Photomicrograph of the signature in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing the paint mixture. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455
fig. 11.16

Thread count map of the warp (vertical) threads in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455. Thread count map created by Don H. Johnson using Thread Count Automation Project software.
fig. 11.17

Warp-angle map of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). Primary cusping from commercial preparation is visible on the right side. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455. Warp-angle map created by Don H. Johnson using Thread Count Automation Project software.
fig. 11.18

Transmitted-light image of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The color merchant’s stamp is visible in the lower right quadrant. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.19

Transmitted-infrared (Fuji, 1.0–1.1 µm) detail of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing the P: Aprin color merchant stamp. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.20

Photomicrograph of the ground in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.23

Photomicrograph of the woman’s left eye in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing faint, red contour lines along the edges. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.24

Infrared (Goodrich, 1.5–1.7 µm) detail of the upper left quadrant of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The two small figures visible were subsequently painted out. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.25

Photomicrograph of the rower on the upper right in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.26

Detail of the woman’s hat brim and flowers in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.27

Photomicrograph of the woman’s waist in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing changes to the waistline. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.28

Raking-light detail of the woman’s face in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing heavy diagonal strokes beneath the face, evidence that the artist painted out a previous form. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.29

X-ray detail of the child’s face in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing evidence that the artist wiped away paint in the cheeks. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455. X-ray digitally composited by Robert G. Erdmann, University of Arizona.
fig. 11.30

Photomicrograph of the child’s cheek in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing the soft edge of the wiped area and the thin layer of paint covering it. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.31

Ultraviolet image of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.32

Verso of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.33

Photomicrograph in raking light of the background in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing paint pressed into cracks in material on the canvas verso. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.43
fig. 11.42
fig. 11.40
fig. 11.41
fig. 11.47
fig. 11.48
fig. 11.49
fig. 11.50
fig. 11.51
fig. 11.52
fig. 11.39

Installation of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) in Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 17, 1997–Jan. 4, 1998. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.
fig. 11.35

Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) in its current frame. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.36

Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) in a previous frame, gallery installation. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.38

Installation of Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) in “A Century of Progress”: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, May 23–Nov. 1, 1933. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.
fig. 11.13

Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455. Interactive image.
fig. 11.1

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas; 129.5 × 172.7 cm (51 × 68 in.). The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, 1637. Bridgeman Images.
fig. 11.2

Jules Draner. “Une visite aux impressionnistes,” from Le charivari, Mar. 9, 1882.
fig. 11.3

A.-M. Lauzet (French, active 1890s). La terrasse, c. 1892. Etching on paper; 11.5 × 9 cm (4 9/16 × 3 9/16 in.) (image). From Georges Lecomte, L’art impressionniste d’après la collection privée de M. Durand-Ruel (Chamerot et Renouard, 1892), p. 137.
fig. 11.4

Chalot and Company. Jeanne Darlaud, 1890s. Photograph. Bibliotheque Nationale de France. © BNF.
fig. 11.5

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Mademoiselle Demarsy (Femme accoudée), 1882. Oil on canvas; 61 × 51 cm (24 × 20 1/6 in.). Private Collection. Photo © Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images.
fig. 11.9

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Alphonsine Fournaise, 1879. Oil on canvas; 73 × 93 cm (28 3/4 × 36 5/8 in.). Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF1937-9. © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY. Photo: Hervé Lewandowski.
fig. 11.10

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Young Girl Seated, 1880. Oil on canvas; 62 × 50 cm (24 7/16 × 19 11/16 in.). Private collection.
fig. 11.6

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children, 1878. Oil on canvas; 153.7 × 190.2 cm (60 1/2 × 74 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, 07.122. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
fig. 11.7

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895). Eugène Manet and His Daughter at Bougival, 1881. Oil on canvas; 73 × 92 cm (28 3/4 × 36 1/4 in.). Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. Giraudon/Bridgeman Images.
fig. 11.11

Infrared detail (Goodrich, 1.5–1.7 µm) of Renoir's Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing two figures in the background that were painted out. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.445.
fig. 11.8

Photomicrograph of the seated figure’s right eye in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace)(1881) showing red lake outline of forms. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.

Loc./Neg. #FormatPurposeDateLighting, Notes
S1323UnknownUnknownUnknown 
M6452UnknownUnknownUnknown 
E108854 × 5 CTUnknownUnknownNormal, overall
C112758 × 10 B&W printUnknownDec. 11, 1957Normal, overall (original negative broken)
C236048 × 10 B&W negativePretreatment1957 
ConservationX-rayUnknownJan. 5, 1972Overall, film edges cut
Conservation8 × 10 B&W negativePretreatmentJan. 5, 1972Normal, overall
Conservation8 × 10 B&W negativePretreatmentJan. 5, 1972Infrared, overall
Conservation8 × 10 B&W negativePretreatmentJan. 5, 1972Ultraviolet, overall
Conservation35 mm color slidesMidtreatmentJan.–Feb. 1972Various paint details, during cleaning (20 total)
ConservationX-rayMidtreatmentApr. 10, 1972Partial
Conservation35 mm color slidesMidtreatmentMay 1972Normal, overall (3 total)
C376138 × 10 B&W negativePosttreatmentMay 11, 1972Normal, overall
Conservation35 mm slidesUnknownAug. 1978Normal, overall and detail: face (3 total)
Conservation35 mm slidesUnknownApr. 1980Normal, overall and detail: child’s face (2 total)
Conservation35 mm slideUnknownOct. 1980Installation shot
Conservation35 mm slideUnknownOct. 1981Normal, detail: flower
E193264 × 5 CTUnknownOct. 30, 1989Normal, overall
C50022 (Cons)8 × 10 CTPolaroid projectNov. 1989Normal, overall (Conservation has 4 × 5 CT copy)
C512738 × 10 CTPolaroid project1989Normal, overall
Conservation35 mm slideUnknownDec. 1990Normal, overall
Conservation35 mm slideUnknown2000Normal, overall, in new frame
G28511DigitalExhibitionMar. 11, 2008Normal, overall
G28512DigitalExhibitionMar. 11, 2008Normal, detail: center (figures)
G28513DigitalExhibitionMar. 11, 2008Normal, detail: child
132376DigitalLoan examNov. 2008Annotated conservation image E19326
ConservationX-rayOSCIFeb. 1, 2010X-ray films scanned/digitally composited, overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Details of verso, frame, and labels (10 total)
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Normal, overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Raking light, overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Ultraviolet, overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Infrared (Fuji 1000B/2 mm filter), overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Transmitted light, overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 2, 2010Transmitted light, detail: stamp
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 3, 2010Macro details (19 total)
ConservationDigitalOSCIFeb. 4, 2010Photomicrographs of sample sites and surface (31 total)
G39094DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Normal, overall composite of G39382–G39406
G39095DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Normal, frame only
G39096DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Ultraviolet, overall
G39382DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39383DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39384DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39385DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39386DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39387DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39388DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39389DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39390DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39391DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39392DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39393DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39394DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39395DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39396DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39397DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39398DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39399DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39400DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39401DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39402DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39403DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39404DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39405DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
G39406DigitalOSCIJan. 24, 2012Section
ConservationDigitalOSCIJan. 25, 2012Infrared (Goodrich, 1.5–1.7 µm J filter), overall; composite
ConservationDigitalOSCIJan. 27, 2012Transmitted infrared (Fuji 1000B/2 mm filter), overall
ConservationDigitalOSCIJan. 27,  2010Transmitted infrared (Fuji 1000B/2 mm filter), detail: stamp

 

fig. 11.54
fig. 11.34

Photomicrograph of a flower on the child’s hat in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). The slightly brighter zinc yellow paint along the bottom edge of this brushstroke was revealed during sampling and illustrates the level of discoloration of this pigment throughout the painting. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.
fig. 11.37

Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) in a previous frame, on display in Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment. Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.
fig. 11.44
fig. 11.45
fig. 11.46
fig. 11.53
fig. 11.12

Infrared image (Goodrich, 1.5–1.7 µm) of Renoir's Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing decorations in the balcony that were painted out. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.445.
fig. 11.22

Photomicrograph of a cross section of the ground in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881) showing the thin red and blue paint layers. Small microfossils are visible in the lower, chalk-based layer. Original magnification: 200×.
fig. 11.21

Back-scattered electron image of a cross section of the ground with thin paint layers in Renoir’s Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (1881). Original magnification: 500×. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.455.