Sur la Plage à Berneval. On the Beach at Berneval. A study of Julie Manet with her cousin by Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919

Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919
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Sur la Plage à Berneval. On the Beach at Berneval. A study of Julie Manet with her cousin

Original drypoint in black ink. 1892/93. Signed in the plate. Exceptionally fine impression of the first published edition. Issued by Duret, Paris 1919 (only very few proofs exist prior to this date).
Ref: Delteil 5. Stella 5, second state with the image completed but before the bevel and steel-face on the plate.

Exceptionally fine impression with tone and burr. On light pale cream wove paper. Excellent condition. 1 - 1 1/2inch margins. Sheet: 8 x 5 5/8ins. Plate: 5 3/8 x 3 3/4ins (136x95mm)

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This study is of one of Renoir's favourite models, Julie the daughter of Berthe Morisot, seen on a holiday in Normandy in 1892 or 1893 together with her cousin Paulette Gobillard (it is these two girls who on the same holiday inspired Renoir's famous study of the Chapeau Epinglé). Renoir accompanied Berthe Morisot and her family on a number of such holiday trips and they inspired some of his most attractive compositions.

Sur la Plage is one of Renoir's earliest prints. In its handling of the soft pattern of the shadows and the blended contours it is typical of Renoir's approach to the interpretation of the sensation of light at this date. Renoir was attracted to drypoint as a medium (probably at the suggestion of Mary Cassatt) because the dry working of the copperplate allowed him to create a strong sense of tonality in the line.

This impression is an unusually fine impression of the first issued edition. Renoir had completed the plate in 1892/93 but he pulled only an extremely small number of proofs at that date. In 1918 the first issued edition was arranged with the critic and publisher Théodore Duret. For this edition the plate was left untouched from the early proofs, and in the first impressions of the edition was still very rich. It was steel-faced and plated for the reissue in 1923.