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Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Young Mother (Jeune mère)

1881
Oil on canvas
121.3 × 85.7 cm (47.8 × 33.7 in)

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Not currently on view

In the collection of Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · as of July 2026

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FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

This work is currently on loan to the exhibition "Renoir and Love" at the Musée d'Orsay, March 17-July 19, 2026, The National Gallery, London, October 3, 2026-January 31, 2027, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, February 20-June 13, 2027. Renoir painted this scene of a peasant girl holding a plump child during a trip to Naples in 1881. Dissatisfied with his drawing skills, he had traveled to Italy to study ancient frescoes and Renaissance masters; he was particularly inspired by the "simplicity and grandeur" of Raphael's paintings. One can see the Italian painter's influence here in the composition's balanced arrangement and the gentle interaction between the rosy-cheeked figures. This is perhaps Renoir's modern, secular take on the Madonna and Child subject.

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