El final del almuerzo

The plates are cleared and nobody wants to move. Renoir caught that exact lull in 1879, in the garden of a Paris restaurant: his younger brother Edmond lighting a cigarette, and the actress Ellen Andrée lifting a small glass of liqueur. Andrée sat for half of Impressionist Paris around then, and she is the woman slumped over a drink in Degas' famous café scene from the very same years. Here she is bright and amused instead. Renoir was pulling away from the group's independent shows about now, chasing success at the official Salon, and you can feel him wanting to please, in the warmth of the light and the ease of the company. A third guest in a black hat stands watching at the edge of the table.