Renoir by Barbara Ehrlich White

Author:Barbara Ehrlich White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
Published: 2017-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

Aristide Maillol, Bust of Auguste Renoir, 1906. Bronze, height 30.5 cm (12 in.). The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Bequest of Maurice Wertheim

Renoir, too, visited André and Maleck, sometimes when en route between the Côte d’Azur and either Paris or Essoyes, staying with them, for example, in May 1903 in Laudun, a town near Avignon, as Renoir reported: ‘I will stop for a while at Albert André’s in Laudun.’173 During his visits to the Andrés, Renoir painted many pieces, including Portrait of Marguerite Cornillac André and View of Laudun from the House of Albert André, both of 1904,174 and a photograph taken there in 1904 shows him with Maleck and Gabrielle.175 When André became engaged to Maleck in November 1905, Renoir sent her a note praising ‘the excellent character of your future husband’, adding affectionately: ‘My dear Marguerite, I send you all my congratulations and the greatest desire for happiness for the longest possible time.’176

While the infant and child Coco had been a frequent model for his father, as he grew older, he ceased to appear so often in Renoir’s works. As with his older brothers, when Coco insisted on short hair and boyish clothes, Renoir found him less appealing as a model. Additionally, Coco himself seems to have lost interest: in 1909, Renoir told Schnerb that his child was too big to model and did not want to pose any more.177 Although Coco had reached the age where the two older boys had been sent to boarding school, Coco’s education was less structured. He and Aline continued moving back and forth each year to Cagnes, Essoyes and Paris, and his parents hired tutors so that he could remain with Aline on these travels, while education officials in Essoyes also took responsibility for coordinating Coco’s lessons in a way that would accommodate his needs.178 In January 1908, for example, when Coco was six years old, Gabrielle informed Rivière on the back of a letter to him from Renoir that, ‘Coco and Jean will be tutored every day, one at the priest’s and the other at the young woman’s.’179

Seven years earlier, when Coco was born, Renoir had painted several portraits of Jean, one of which Renoir kept in his collection until his death, The Artist’s Son Jean drawing (see page 244).180 He sports a boy’s haircut and outfit. Jean later recalled that his father had suggested that a pencil and a piece of paper should be given to him so that he could draw figures of animals while Renoir was painting him.181

In 1902, when Jean was eight, Aline decided that he should follow Pierre to his boarding school. Since this would be Pierre’s last year at Sainte-Croix, Aline felt that, despite the fact that Jean was a year younger than Pierre had been when first attending boarding school, having his older brother as a fellow boarder might help Jean adjust to living away from home. Unfortunately, Jean disliked this first boarding school and, after only six months there, at the Easter break of 1903 refused to return.

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