Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum | Bush-Reisinger Museum | Arthur M. Sackler Museum

For many French artists during the 1860s, the floral still life persisted as a test of pure painterly ability. This exuberant bouquet in a Japanese vase from early in Renoir’s career attests to the artist’s engagement with past art historical traditions. He addresses the ennobled Dutch practice of still life through the large scale of his canvas, while his attention to the textures and colors of the arrangement evokes the work of early eighteenth-century French painters like Antoine Watteau and François Boucher— artists he had studied as a teenager while working as a porcelain painter. The painting also demonstrates Renoir’s development as an artist. Instead of applying the paint with a palette knife— a technique he borrowed from artists such as Courbet— Renoir adopted a freer and thinner stroke using solely a brush.

Object Number

1943.277

People

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French (Limoges 1841 - 1919 Cagnes)

Title

Spring Bouquet

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

1866

Culture

French

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

104.8 x 80.3 cm (41 1/4 x 31 5/8 in.)
framed: 131.5 x 106.8 x 11.5 cm (51 3/4 x 42 1/16 x 4 1/2 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: l.r.: A. Renoir 1866

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.277

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

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Paul Dumas, "Quinze Tableaux inédits de Renoir", La Renaissance de l'art français (July 1924), vol. VII, repr. p. 364

[Reproduction only], "French Painting", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, November 1943)., repr. in b/w p. 59

Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, Jades, Paintings and Drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art; selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1943), p. 7

John Rewald, The History of Impressionism [1st ed.], Museum of Modern Art, New York (New York, NY, 1946), pp. 144, 147; repr. p. 145

Walter Pach, ed., Pierre Auguste Renoir, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1950), repr. opposite p. 34

Jean Cassou, Die Impressionisten und ihre Zeit (Lucerne, Switzerland, 1953), repr. as pl. 33

Milton S. Fox, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1953), repr. p. 9

Germain Bazin, Das Blumenbouquet: Gemälde grosser Meister, Kindler Verlag (Munich, Germany, c. 1959), repr.

Enciclopedia Universale dell'Arte (Rome, Italy, c. 1960), repr.

William Gaunt, Renoir, Phaidon Press (London, England, 1962), repr. in color no. 1

Beverley Nichols, The Art of Flower Arrangement, George Rainbird (London, England, 1967), repr. in color p. 111

Dorothy W. Gillerman, Gridley McKim-Smith, and Joan R. Mertens, Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1969), no. 91, repr.

Agnes Mongan, "Renoir's Spring Bouquet", Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Tokyo, Japan, September 1970), repr. in color p. 21

Pierre Cabanne, Renoir, Réalités-Hachette (Paris, France, 1970), repr. in color p. 46

Elda Fezzi, L'Opera Completa di Renoir nel periodo impressionista, 1869-1883, Rizzoli Editore (Milan, Italy, 1972), p. 90, repr. in b/w; color plate 12, p. 89

Masakazu Yamazaki and Hideo Tomiyama, Renoir, ed. Toshio Nishimura, Japan Art Center (Tokyo, Japan, 1972), repr. p. 112; color plate 17

James N. Carpenter, Color in Art: A Tribute to Arthur Pope, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1974), p. 89, cat. 45, ill.

Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), repr. in b/w p. 227

Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1984), repr. in color p. 12

The Impressionists (Japan, c. 1990), repr. in color p. 40

Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums/Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 214, p. 188, repr. in color

Kimio Nakayama, Runowaru [Renoir] (Tokyo, Japan, 1986), p. 6, repr.

Bruce Bernard, ed., The Impressionist Revolution, Orbis Publishing Ltd. (London, England, 1986), repr. in color p. 171, p. 258

Horst Keller, Auguste Renoir, Bruckmann Verlag (Munich, Germany, 1987), repr. in color pl. 14, p. 21

Nicholas Wadley, ed., Renoir: A Retrospective, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. (New York, NY, 1987), repr. in color, pl. 4, p. 20

"Renoir", Asahi Graph, Orion Press (Tokyo, Japan, 1989), repr. in color no. 2

Anne Distel, Les Collectionneurs des Impressionistes: Amateurs et marchands, La Bibliothèque des Arts (Paris, France, 1989), repr. in color p. 17, no. 10, repr in b/w

Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 91, color plate; pp. 126, 253, repr. b/w cat. no. 378

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Renoir by Renoir, ed. Rachel Barnes, Webb and Bower (Exeter, England, 1990), repr. in color p. 23; text p. 22

Violette de Mazia, "Form and Matter: the Form of Renoir's Color", Vistas (1991), vol. V, no. 2, repr. in b/w pl. 2

Nobuo Abe, Great History of Art: Koki inshoha to seikimatsu no miroyoku (Kyoto, Japan, 1991), p. 40, repr.

Bernard Denvir, Impressionism, the Painters and the Paintings, Studio Editions (London, England, 1991), repr. in color, pl. 64

Anne Distel, Renoir il faut embellir, Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Editions Gallimard (Paris, France, 1993), repr. in color p. 12

Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), p. 30, repr. as fig. 22

Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press (New York, 2003), no. 110, pp. 274-276, repr. in color

Christopher Riopelle, Harvard's Winthrop Collection: Nineteenth-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, exh. cat., National Gallery Company Limited (London, 2003), p. 37, cat. 24, ill.

Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), no. 110, pp. 285-286, repr. in color

Kyoko Kagawa, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Shogakukan Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, 2006), pp. 92-93, repr. in color

Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, Renoir 1858-1881, Editions Bernheim-Jeune (Paris, 2007), p. 120, ill. as no. 21

Bernhard Mendes Bürgi and Michael F. Zimmerman, Renoir Between Bohemia and Bourgeoisie. The Early Years, exh. cat., ed. Nina Zimmer, Kunstmuseum Basel (Basel, Switzerland, 2012), repr. p. 232, fig. 40.

Chinese sculpture, bronzes, jades, paintings and drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art : selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/01/1943 - 02/28/1944

Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 01/23/1969 - 03/31/1969

Color in Art: A Tribute to Arthur Pope, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/25/1974 - 06/16/1974

Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/13/1977 - 08/31/1977

A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, 03/15/2003 - 05/26/2003; National Gallery, London, 06/25/2003 - 09/14/2003; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/23/2003 - 01/25/2004

For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004

32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/01/2014

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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu