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Follow the warm hair and pink sleeves down to the small sewing hands, then compare them with the cool dark background.
The child is Renoir’s son Jean, who later became a film director. Jean recalled that his nanny Gabrielle suggested sewing a satin coat for his toy camel to keep him occupied while he posed. His long hair, worn until he was seven, can mislead viewers who expect clothing or hairstyle to identify a child’s gender.
Oil on canvas · 55.4 × 46.3 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Jean Renoir Sewing
- Artist
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)
- Date
- 1899–1900
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 55.4 × 46.3 cm (21 3/4 × 18 1/4 in.); Framed: 68.3 × 60.1 × 6.1 cm (26 7/8 × 23 5/8 × 2 3/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.