Portrait of a Man (Monsieur Charpentier)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Renoir's skill at rendering his subjects in a flattering light meant that his portraits were in high demand among Parisian bourgeois society. This small portrait likely depicts Georges Charpentier, the publisher of naturalist novelist Émile Zola and founder of the publication La vie moderne , for which Renoir was an illustrator. Charpentier and his wife, Marguerite, were important early collectors of impressionism, and Renoir secured other portrait commissions through their patronage.

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