Étude pour une Baigneuse. Study of a Nude by Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919
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Étude pour une Baigneuse. Study of a Nude

Original drypoint in black ink c.1893. Signed with the artist?s signature stamp (no impressions were hand signed). Plate drawn c.1893; from the first edition printed for Renoir at the studio of Fort, Paris c.1908. Edition of 525 of velin teinte paper. Edition first issued by Vollard to accompany the monograph: Tableaus, Pastels et Dessius de Renoir, Paris, 1918.
Ref: Delteil/Stella - Renoir Prints No. 16.

Excellent impression with drypoint burr and light plate tone. On pale cream wove velin teinte paper. Generally excellent condition; the very faintest trace of time toning at the extreme outer sheet edges. Full margins. Sheet: 12¾" x 9 5/8". Plate: 8 ¾" x 6 5/8" (222x167 mm).

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Renoir drew this drypoint around 1893, and it was probably one of the earliest of his prints. Using drypoint as a medium may well have been suggested to him by Mary Cassatt and by Bethe Morisot, whose daughter Jule was one of his favourite models. Renoir found that he enjoyed the medium because of the special combination of tone and line which the drypoint stroke incorporates. It is this soft tonal line which makes this nude study so beautiful an image.

At this period Renoir was concentrating on rendering the way in which light softens and moulds contour. In his paintings and in his drawing pure line was abandoned in favour of blended contour and shadow. When he first experimented with drypoint he found that the actual nature of the stroke cut into the copperplate was to blur when inked, the fine incision and to blend it with a quality of tone. In Étude pour une Baigneuse he had completely mastered the medium and he used the combination of delicate stroke and tonal burr to superb effect, so that the light plays over and models the whole form of the figure.