Gabrielle in Profile

The woman seen in profile is Gabrielle Renard, a cousin of Renoir's wife from her village in Champagne. She joined the household in 1894, at about 16, taken on to help look after the Renoirs' small son, and she stayed for some 20 years. She also became the model Renoir painted more often than almost anyone else: by most counts she sat for around 200 of his pictures. By 1910 she was simply part of the family and always there, so a canvas like this reads less as a formal portrait than as a study of a face he already knew by heart. He catches her turned to the side, her dark hair and warm skin laid down in a few unhurried strokes.