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A young woman with peachy skin shaded with ice blue and pale, mint green is shown from the chest up wearing a low-cut, white garment in this vertical portrait painting. The painting is created with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft, blurred effect. The woman’s body is angled to our left and she looks off in that direction with blue eyes, her head tipped a little toward us. She has a straight nose and full, rosy pink lips. Thick, blond bangs sweep across her forehead, and her hair is partially pulled back. She holds one long lock with her left hand, on our right, in front of her shoulder. One small gold ball earring adorns the ear we can see. Her low-cut, white garment falls off her shoulders and is belted with a blue sash at her waist. The background is made up of a field of royal and turquoise blue behind her head and shoulders, and rust brown behind her body. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower left corner: “Renoir.76.”

Auguste Renoir

Young Woman Braiding Her Hair, 1876

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 82

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 55.5 x 46 cm (21 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.)

framed: 76.8 x 68 x 7 cm (30 1/4 x 26 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.63

Artists / Makers

Auguste Renoir (artist) French, 1841 - 1919

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left: Renoir.76

Provenance

Dr. Gandie, Nice.[1] Private collection of Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, by 1913;[2] in partnership 1934 to (Durand-Ruel, New York); sold 1937 to (Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York); sold 1937 to Andrew Mellon [1855-1937], Pittsburgh and Washington;[3] by inheritance to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[4] bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] Guy-Patrice and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles 1858-1881, Paris, 2007: 1:no. 403, include collector Henri Canonne (1867-1961) in the provenance. However, there is no other evidence of his ownership. Arsène Alexander, in La Collection Canonne (1930) does not mention this picture, but includes a similar painting of a woman braiding her hair.

[2] The painting was exhibited at Bernheim-June in 1913 as lent by a private collection; was published in 1919 as in the private collection of Bernheim-Jeune; was was lent by Bernheim-Jeune to a 1933 exhibition in Paris.

[3] Information about Bernheim-Jeune and Durand Ruel, as well as Carstairs, is in a letter dated 28 November 1977 from François Daulte; in NGA curatorial files.

[4] Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives, copy NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bernheim-Jeune
Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Carstairs Gallery
Durand-Ruel et Cie
Gandie, Dr.
Mellon, Andrew W.

Exhibition History

1913: Renoir, Bernheim-Jeune et Fils, Paris, 1913, no. 9, as La Chevelure

1925: Exhibition of Masterpieces by Renoir for the benefit of Hope Farm, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1935, no. 3, repro.

1933: Exposition Renoir, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1933, no. 30.

1934: A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1934, no. 242, repro.

1935: Exhibition of Masterpieces by Renoir, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1935, no. 3.

1936: Le grand siècle, Paul Rosenberg, Paris, 1936, no. 45, repro.

1961: French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 41, color repro., as Mlle. Muller (La Chevelure).

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 105, repro.

1985: Auguste Renoir, Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, London; Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985.

1986: Capolavori Impressionisti dei Musei Americani, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 1986-1987, no. 41, repro.

1986: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1986, no. 30, repro.

1989: Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 49, repro.

1992: From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 1992-1993, no. 50, repro.

1994: Renoir: Master Impressionist, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1994-1995, no. 10, repro.

1996: Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 156-157, color repro.

1999: Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 33, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

2019: Renoir: The Body, The Senses, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 2019-2020, no. 12, repro.

Bibliography

1919: L'Art Moderne et quelques aspects de l'art d'autrefois. Paris, Bernheim-Jeune, 1919:105

1952: Gaunt, William. Renoir. London, 1952: plate 21.

1953: Berr de Turique, Marcelle. Renoir. Paris, c. 1953: repro. plate 21.

1961: Comstock, Helen. "The Connoisseur in America: An Intimate View of French Masters." The Connoisseur 148, no. 598 (December 1961): repro. 338.

1966: Kuh, Katherine. "Golden Loans for a Silver Anniversary." Saturday Review (19 March 1966): repro. p. 49.

1967: Dauberville, Henry. La Batille de l'impressionisme. Paris, 1967: 552, repro.

1971: Daulte, Francois. Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint. Vol.I. Figures 1860-1890. Lausanne, 1971: no. 172

1972: Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 222.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 298, repro.

1980: Monneret, Sophie (intro). Guida alla pittura di Renoir. Milan, 1980:, no 253 as La signorina Muller.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 465, no. 676, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 343, repro.

1985: Fezzi, Elda. L'opera complete di Renoir nel period impressionista 1869-1883. Paris, 1985:no.218, repro.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 49, repro.

1996: Sagner-Düchting, Karin. Renoir: Paris and the Belle Epoque. Munich, 1996:repro. 69.

2007: Dauberville, Guy-Patrice, and Michel Dauberville. Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles. 5 vols. Paris, 2007: 1:no. 403.