Marie-Octavie Bernier was the wife of the commander of Renoir's regiment during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). In the spring of 1871, Renoir stayed with the couple, who were living with her father in the town of Tarbes in southwestern France. Enjoying their hospitality and a level of comfort that is reflected in this portrait, Renoir fondly recalled that he spent "two months in a château," where he was "treated like a prince," rode horses every day, and taught his hosts' daughter to paint.
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Credit Line:Gift of Margaret Seligman Lewisohn, in memory of her husband, Sam A. Lewisohn, and of her sister-in-law, Adele Lewisohn Lehman, 1951
Accession Number:51.200
Renoir and the Franco-Prussian War: Renoir, who had completed obligatory military reserve duty, was called up and began to serve on August 26, 1870, several weeks after the onset of the Franco-Prussian War. He reported to Libourne, near Bordeaux and more than some 350 miles southwest of Paris, where he joined the fourth Platoon of the tenth Light Cavalry Regiment. Five months later, while further south at Vic-en-Bigorre, he succumbed to a severe attack of dysentery and was granted leave to convalesce in Bordeaux. After the ceasefire on January 28, 1871, he returned to Vic, and on March 10, 1871, was discharged. The war in the north of France was exceedingly violent but brief. The population of Paris, having suffered a devastating blockade, rose in opposition to the surrender to the Germans, and, in April (when Renoir returned to the city) and May 1871, civil war ensued under the Commune.
The Sitter and Her Husband: It must have been in the early spring of 1871 that the artist stayed with his former commanding officer, Captain Edouard Bernier (1822–1880), and the captain’s family at the estate of Madame Bernier’s parents in Tarbes, at the foot of the Pyrenees. Years later, Renoir cheerfully reported to Julie Manet that he had spent two months in a château where he was treated in princely fashion, rode horses every day, and gave painting lessons to the couple’s daughter. While he was there, the captain and his wife sat for half-length portraits—the captain in dress uniform (1871, Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden, no. 2608).[1] Madame Bernier, born Marie-Octavie-Stéphanie Laurens in 1838, had married Bernier in 1857. She was in her early thirties when she was painted, though she does not look significantly younger than her husband. The sitter had been misidentified as Madame Darras (whom Renoir also painted) until 1997, when Colin Bailey published the couple’s correct identity, noting, among other details, that the name of the first recorded owner was “Bernier.”
The portrait: Madame Bernier is seated frontally in an upholstered armchair before a green curtain or drapery in a barely defined interior. She wears a short black double-breasted coat with a fur collar and cuffs, lined in white satin. The background and the skirt of her dress, particularly, are firmly brushed but with little effort at description. There is white lace at her throat, and she wears elaborate jewelry: pendant earrings with colored stones, large rings, and a necklace or brooch. Her elegant hands and nails and her face are painted with much greater attention to detail. She has brown eyes, and her slightly sallow skin tone accords with her thick dark hair and eyebrows. A serious expression on her face, Madame Bernier looks out at the viewer. Renoir outlined her upper lids in black. While some of the brushwork is bold, her clothes and the palette are dark enough to give the overall impression of a style that is traditional.
Katharine Baetjer 2021
[1] The portrait, as Lady in Black, together with its pendant belonged to Joseph Stransky, conductor of the New York Philharmonic Society and later partner in the art dealing firm of Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York. He presumably sold the pendant to the museum in Dresden.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): A. Renoir .71.
the sitter (from 1871); Monsieur Bernier (until 1919; sold on July 26 as "un portrait de femme" for Fr 10,000 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel and Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1919; sold on July 29 to Bernheim-Jeune]; [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris and Lausanne, 1919–20; stock no. 21669; sold to Stransky]; Joseph Stransky, New York (1920–25; probably sold to Lewisohn); Adolph Lewisohn, New York (1925–38); his son, Samuel A. Lewisohn, New York (1938–51); his wife, Margaret Seligman Lewisohn, New York (in 1951; life interest to her sister-in-law, Adele Lewisohn Lehman, 1951–d. 1965)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings," May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 101 (as "Lady in Black," lent by Josef Stransky).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Taste of Today in Masterpieces of Painting before 1900," July 10–October 2, 1932, no catalogue (lent by Samuel Lewisohn).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings," May 18–September 12, 1937, no. 1 (as "Portrait of Mme Darras," lent by The Adolph Lewisohn Collection).
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism," March 1–29, 1938, no. 36 (lent by the Adolph Lewisohn Collection, New York City).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Lewisohn Collection," November 2–December 2, 1951, no. 67 (lent by Mrs. Arthur Lehman [Adele Lewisohn Lehman]).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionist and Modern Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 11–end of summer, 1957, no catalogue (lent by Mrs. Arthur Lehman [Adele Lewisohn Lehman]).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 1–September 1, 1958, no. 117.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 7–September 7, 1959, no. 92.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 6–September 4, 1960, no. 102.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 1–August 20, 1961, no. 80.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 3–September 6, 1962, no. 76.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 12–September 2, 1963, no. 64 (lent by Mrs. Arthur Lehman [Adele Lewisohn Lehman]).
New York. Wildenstein. "Renoir: In Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir's Death," March 27–May 3, 1969, no. 6 (as "Portrait of Madame Darras").
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age," June 27–September 14, 1997, no. 9 (as "Madame Marie Octavie Bernier (formerly called Madame Darras)".
Art Institute of Chicago. "Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age," October 17, 1997–January 4, 1998, no. 9.
Fort Worth, Tex. Kimbell Art Museum. "Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age," February 8–April 26, 1998, no. 9.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 98.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Renoir: Zwischen Bohème und Bourgeoisie, die frühen Jahre," April 1–August 12, 2012, no. 20.
Gustave Geffroy. "Peintre de la femme." L'art et les artistes 1 (January 1920), p. 162, ill.
Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1921, p. 23, no. 101, ill.
Stephan Bourgeois. The Adolph Lewisohn Collection of Modern French Paintings and Sculptures. New York, 1928, pp. 128–29, ill., as "Portrait of Madame Darras"; mentions what was believed to be the companion piece to it, a portrait of Captain Darras in Dresden.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Renoir. Leipzig, 1929, pp. 42, 52, no.1, ill.
Edith von Térey. "Die Sammlung Adolph Lewisohn, New York." Kunst und Künstler 27 (August 1929), p. 418, ill., calls it a pendant to the portrait of Captain Darras in Dresden.
Stephan Bourgeois and Waldemar George. "The French Paintings of the XIXth and XXth Centuries in the Adolph and Samuel Lewisohn Collection." Formes nos. 28–29 (1932), pp. 301, 305, ill.
Sam A. Lewisohn. Painters and Personality: A Collector's View of Modern Art. [New York], 1937, pl. 128, calls it "Madame Darras".
R. H. Wilenski. Modern French Painters. New York, [1940], pp. 61, 339, believes it was painted in Renoir's Parisian studio at the rue Notre Dame des Champs.
Charles Terrasse. Cinquante portraits de Renoir. Paris, 1941, unpaginated, pl. 4.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 83.
Bruno F. Schneider. Renoir. Berlin, [1957], p. 22.
François Fosca. Renoir: His Life and Work. first American ed. 1962. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1961, pp. 24, 32, ill.
Henri Perruchot. La Vie de Renoir. [Paris], 1964, pp. 78–79.
Claus Virch. The Adele and Arthur Lehman Collection. New York, 1965, pp. 67–69, ill.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 145–46, ill.
Margaretta M. Salinger. "Windows Open to Nature." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (Summer 1968), unpaginated, ill., compares it to Renoir's earlier portraits, which were inspired by Courbet and Delacroix.
Renoir: In Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir's Death. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 1969, unpaginated, no. 6, ill.
François Fosca. Renoir. French ed. 1923. New York, [1970?], pp. 31–32, 35.
François Daulte. Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Vol. 1, Figures. Lausanne, 1971, unpaginated, no. 69, ill.
Elda Fezzi. L'opera completa di Renoir. [reprint ed., 1981]. Milan, 1972, p. 92, no. 64, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 480, ill.
Colin B. Bailey in Colin B. Bailey. Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 1997, pp. 110–12, 274–75, no. 9, ill. (color), calls it "Madame Marie Octavie Bernier (formerly called Madame Darras)," noting that the surname Darras was not associated with either of the pendant paintings of husband and wife until the early 1920s; remarks that these are the only paintings associated with Renoir's military service of the early 1870s; cites archival evidence confirming that Captain Paul-Édouard-Alfred Darras (1834–1903) and his wife Henriette Oudiette (1837–1910) are not the sitters for these portraits; instead, identifies the sitters as the non-commissioned officer Captain Édouard Bernier (1822–1880) and his wife, the former Marie-Octavie-Stéphanie Laurens (1838–1920), whom he married in 1857; observes that the name of the first known owner of the pictures is Bernier; states that the pendant portraits were painted in March or April 1871 during Renoir's stay with the Bernier family in Tarbes.
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Modern Art Comes to the Metropolitan: The 1921 Exhibition of 'Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings'." Apollo 152 (October 2000), p. 12, fig. 9 (installation photograph).
Guy-Patrice Dauberville, and Michel Dauberville, with Camille Fremontier-Murphy. Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles. Vol. 1, 1858–1881. Paris, 2007, pp. 433–34, no. 412, ill.
Susan Alyson Stein inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 136, 251, no. 98, ill. (color and black and white).
Susan Alyson Stein inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 152, 296–97, no. 141, ill. (color and black and white).
Augustin de Butler, ed. Écrits et propos sur l'art.. By Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paris, 2009, p. 273 n. 9.
Anne Distel. Renoir. New York, 2010, pp. 88, 386 n. 66.
Stefanie Manthey and Nina Zimmer inRenoir, Between Bohemia and Bourgeoisie: The Early Years. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Ostfildern, 2012, pp. 105–6, 160, no. 20, ill. p. 161 (color).
Stefanie Manthey inRenoir, Between Bohemia and Bourgeoisie: The Early Years. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Ostfildern, 2012, p. 283.
Daniel Marchesseau inPierre-Auguste Renoir: Revoir Renoir. Ed. Daniel Marchesseau. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2014, pp. 108, 309, ill. (color).
Anne Distel inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, p. 130, compares it to Renoir's "Madame Victor Chocquet" (1875, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart) and calls it stylistically indebted to Courbet and Manet.
Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer)
1894
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