©Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bouquet de printemps (Spring Bouquet), 1866, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Art Museums, USA
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 Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s career attests to the artist’s engagement with past art historical traditions. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841—1919) addresses the ennobled Dutch practice of still life through the large scale of his canvas, while his attention to the textures and colours 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.
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 Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s career attests to the artist’s engagement with past art historical traditions. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841—1919) addresses the ennobled Dutch practice of still life through the large scale of his canvas, while his attention to the textures and colours 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.