Renoir [antikvár]

Life Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges on 25 February 1841. In 1845 his family moved to Paris where the father, a tailor, went on making a modest living to support his already large family. Pierre soon showed he was a particularly gifted boy, and he might have studied singing, according to the organist of the parish church of Saint-Roch, Charles Gounod. But Renoir's father much preferred the idea of a solid artisan occupation, and for his son he chose a job as a decorator in the firm of Levy Freres, porcelain manufacturers in the Rue du Temple. By doing lively imitations of Sevres shepherds, Louis XV effects, garlands and figures a la Boucher, Renoir learnt the use of fluid, delicate colour; and he so stood out from the other decorators that he was able almost immediately to ask for a rise. M. Levy resolved to put him in the dessert plates department, and give him two centimes for each plate, three for a likeness of Marie-Antoinette. The ones with the picture of the Queen sold like hot cakes ' thanks to the guillotine, ' Renoir was to say when talking about himself to his son Jean, the film director; ' the bourgeoisie adores martyrs . . . especially after a good lunch with plenty to drink. ' But hand-made porcelain was soon to yield to the competition from mass production, and Renoir moved on to painting fabrics and fans in another workshop, where he was involved in work for foreign missions. In 1862, having attended evening classes in drawing, Renoir enrolled for the regular course in painting at the École des Beaux-Arts. With his savings he paid for lessons at the studio of Charles Gleyre, one of the best known and least expensive academic teachers. There he attended between 1862 and 1864. His treatment of the nude and classical subjects lacked discipline, according to the scholastic rules. Renoir painted with dedication. In Gleyre's studio he met Frédéric Bazille, Alfred Sisley and also Claude Monet, an impatient student who already had decided ideas about painting landscape, and who shared with Eugene Boudin, 3