Portrait of the Artist’s Son

The painting depicts Renoir’s first-born son, Pierre, born in 1885. From the summer following the child’s birth, the painter produced numerous drawings, sketches and three paintings on the theme of maternity, portraying his wife Aline breastfeeding his son at six months, and he also returned to this theme in his studio in the winter of 1885-1886. The restoration carried out on this small work in 1978 revealed areas of colour from a different time in the lower part of the canvas, on the child’s hand and the upper part of the bonnet, as well as on the dark edges of the bib, the upper eyelids and the mouth. It is therefore supposed that the work was subsequently revised at various moments by another painter, in a period that is not clear. Nevertheless, the technique, which is free and luminous, with opalescent colours, reflects Renoir’s painting experiences of around 1885.