La trenza

In the mid-1880s Renoir did something his fellow Impressionists found almost like a betrayal. He turned away from loose, flickering brushwork and went back to firm outline and modeled form, chasing the clarity of an older painter he admired, Ingres. This picture of a young woman braiding her hair comes out of that change, every strand and contour drawn tight. The model was Suzanne Valadon, who sat for several artists in these years and was watching them closely. She went on to become a painter herself, and in 1894 the first woman admitted to the exhibitions of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Renoir has recast her here, though. Valadon was fair and blue-eyed, and he has warmed her into someone who looks Italian.