This small-format oil sketch depicts the medieval fortified village of St. Paul de Vence, a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France near Nice. Perched on a narrow spur between two valleys, Renoir’s sketch shows the distinctive towers of the town as viewed from the west. Beginning around 1903, Renoir and his family vacationed in Cagnes-sur-Mer, west of Nice, where in 1907 they bought land and began to build a new house. Renoir completed a sizable number of landscapes in the Cagnes-sur-Mer region, and several of the sketches that he made outdoors during the summer he used as documents for studio compositions painted during the winter.

The Dumbarton Oaks sketch is closely related to a painting of the same composition now incorrectly titled Cros-de-Cagnes and dated in the literature to 1905. This painting, which was in the trade in 2007, has a similar width but is nearly double in height due to the inclusion of more of the forest in the foreground. (Cf. François Daulte, Auguste Renoir [Paris, 1972], 63.) In both versions, Renoir has adopted a classical compositional model, placing vegetation in the foreground, highlighted architectural elements in the middle area, and broad bands of horizon in the background. The classical rigor found in Renoir’s landscapes from this period suggests to Barbara White that, “During the first decade of the twentieth century, Renoir’s style continued to develop as it had during the previous decade in an integration of classicism and Impressionism. Tangible forms are surrounded by a warm atmosphere created by expressive brushstrokes of vibrant color and sparkling light. Classical feelings of weightiness and universality are blended with Impressionist feelings of movement and joyfulness.” (Barbara E. White, Renoir, His Life, Art and Letters [New York, 1984], 217)

Renoir suffered from a serious bicycle accident in 1897 which left him in deteriorating health and brought on occasional depression. Nevertheless, until he was afflicted in 1912 by paralysis of his legs and arms, his artistic interests, such as his depiction of the sunny Mediterranean landscape in the Dumbarton Oaks sketch, remained characteristically optimistic.

J. Carder

Vollard, Ambroise. Tableaux, Pastels et Dessins de Pierre Auguste Renoir Vol. II. Paris, 1918, 150, ill.

Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, extended loan, 9/23/1970-8/15/2008.

Collection of Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, DC until January 17, 1969;

Bequest of Mildred Barnes Bliss (1879-1969), January 17, 1969;

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, House Collection, Washington, DC