A previously unknown masterpiece by Pierre-Auguste Renoir featuring his son, future filmmaker Jean Renoir, and the family nanny sold for 1.8 million euros (approximately $1.95 million) including fees at the prestigious Hôtel Drouot auction house in Paris on Tuesday. The painting, titled "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), had never been publicly exhibited or sold before.
The artwork was acquired by an international buyer, according to Drouot auction house officials. The painting had been estimated to sell for between 1 and 1.5 million euros. Painted before 1910, the canvas had been preserved by the family of Jeanne Baudot, a close friend and the only student of the French master, to whom Renoir had given the painting as a gift.
"This painting represents everything one could possibly want in a Renoir," commented Pascal Perrin, an art historian and specialist of the painter, while presenting the work. The painting depicts Renoir's young second son - the artist had five children in total - who would later become the acclaimed director of "La Grande Illusion" and "A Day in the Country." In the intimate scene, young Jean sits on the lap of his nanny, Gabrielle Renard, playing with figurines of people and animals.
Perrin emphasized the "exceptional condition of the work, which has undergone no restoration." He explained in the auction catalog that the canvas "is a perfect example of the painter's mastery at full maturity. We find all his love for intimate scenes, the representation of a child, of a stolen moment during an afternoon in the heart of his own family."
Auctioneer Christophe Joron-Derem, who was in charge of the sale, described it as "a masterpiece unknown until now to specialists, the public, and the art market." This particular version is one of three that Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) created of this scene. The other two versions are housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The painting sold on Tuesday had remained in private hands until now.
The painting's provenance tells a fascinating story of artistic friendship and family connections. Jeanne Baudot, who was also Jean Renoir's godmother, kept the canvas until her death in 1957. She bequeathed it to Jean Griot, the son of her governess whom she considered as her own child. Griot was a resistance fighter who served in General de Gaulle's cabinet during World War II and later directed the newspaper Le Figaro in the 1970s. After his death in 2011, the painting was preserved by his heirs.
Auguste Renoir painted dozens of portraits of his children throughout his career, capturing intimate family moments with his characteristic warmth and technique. Gabrielle Renard, who cared for the Renoir children for about twenty years, was also one of his preferred models and appears in nearly 200 of his works. Her presence in the family and in Renoir's art represents the deep personal connections that often inspired the Impressionist master's most beloved paintings.
