9781422271797

MASTERS OF ART

PLATE 5 Boy with a Cat (1868) Oil on canvas, 48 1 ⁄

2 x 26 inches (123 x 66 cm)

knew, since from the beginning of his working life he was in search of not only satisfaction in labor, a job well done, but also pleasure and, even delight, in what he did. His life did not start propitiously. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born at Limoges in central France, on February 25, 1841, the fourth of five children. Two painters, both part of the Impressionist Fevolution, and later to become his friends, Frédéric Bazille and Berthe Morisot, were born in the same year. Renoir’s father was a small-time tailor, who despite making a meager living, appears to have been concerned for his sons’ futures as well as wishing to improve his own circumstances, and moved with his family to Paris when Pierre was four. Although he had little money, he was interested in objets d’art in a way that many of the petite bourgeoisie were, and even hoped that his sons might have work of an artistic, if humble, kind. Renoir’s mother, too, had a This strange and unusual study was undertaken when Renoir was concerned with the academic qualities of draftsmanship, and he made a number of nude studies, which usually acquired a classical title. A painting of a nude Lise from the previous year was turned into a “Diana” by the addition of a dead deer and an archer’s bow. In this painting, no such alternative seems obvious, and the careful drawing of the figure and the fat, contented cat remain an example of Renoir’s pursuit at that time of fine painting within the academic tradition.

sensitive nature and was accustomed to taking her sons for walks in the woods, drawing their attention to the beauty and endless variety of nature. Pierre-Auguste was a good-humored and serious minded youth with a conscientious spirit. At school in Paris, he showed an early talent for drawing and had a good ear for music. He sang in the choir of the local 11