Mademoiselle Georgette Charpentier Seated

The model is Georgette, the eldest daughter of the Paris publisher Georges Charpentier. She was four at the time, and she sits smiling in a large chair, wearing a blue dress and blue stockings. The chair, too large for her body, emphasizes how small and charming she is.

There is none of the stiffness of a traditional portrait; her relaxed pose is painted just as it is. Looking closely, one sees that blue lines are drawn in the shadowed parts of the dress and skin. The carpet on the floor and the vase suggest the interior of a wealthy Parisian household in the nineteenth century. The blue of the dress and the flush of her cheeks resonate well within the bright colors of the room.

Monsieur and Madame Charpentier held a literary salon at their home. They became close to Renoir after buying his paintings at the Impressionist sale of 1875. This work, from 1876, was the first portrait of the family that they commissioned.

The Artizon Museum, which holds it, has as its predecessor the Bridgestone Museum of Art opened by Ishibashi Shojiro, and is known for its collection of modern Western painting centered on Impressionism.