Yvonne and Christine Lerolle at the Piano

By 1897 Renoir was one of the most celebrated painters in France, and here he sets two young sisters at the piano in a comfortable Paris apartment. They are Yvonne and Christine Lerolle, daughters of Henry Lerolle, a painter and collector whose home was a gathering point for musicians and artists. Yvonne, in white, works through a piece while Christine leans in over the score. The detail worth finding is on the wall behind them. Those two framed pictures are real works by Degas that belonged to their father, so Renoir is showing us not only the girls but the art they grew up surrounded by. The painting was bought straight out of an exhibition for a national collection of living artists, on the urging of the poet Stephane Mallarme.