Marcellin Desboutin, “Portrait of Renoir”, 1877

Marcellin Desboutin (aka Marcellin Gilbert Desboutin) (1823–1902)

“Portrait of Renoir” (aka “Portrait du Peintre Auguste Renoir”, “Portrait of Renoir, His Legs Crossed”; “Renoir les Jambes Croisées”), 1877. Note that this portrait was executed from Desboutin’s direct observation of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), described by Noël Clément-Janin (1922) in his catalogue of Desboutin’s prints as “l'illustre peintre, au grand corps ‘dégingandé’” (the illustrious painter, with a large "lanky" body) (p. 249). Interestingly, Desboutin executed a second drypoint portrait of Renoir also drawn from direct observation/life in 1877; see https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27707/portrait-of-renoir. I understand that this impression is from an edition of 60 copies published by Henri Floury (aka Paul Henri Joseph Floury) (1862–1961) in Paris in 1922 for the deluxe edition of Clément-Janin’s “La Curieuse vie de Marcellin Desboutin, Peintre, Graveur, Poète”.

Drypoint with pale plate tone on fine wove (Japon) paper with a partial watermark and full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 18 x 22.3 cm; (platemark) 22.5 x 15.8 cm; (image borderline) 21.6 x 15.1 cm.

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the inscribed name, “Renoir”.

Clément-Janin 208 (Noël Clément-Janin 1922, “La Curieuse vie de Marcellin Desboutin, Peintre, Graveur, Poète”, Paris, Henri Floury, p. 249, cat. no. 208 [see https://archive.org/details/lacurieuseviedem00clemuoft/page/248/mode/2up]).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art offers a brief description of this print before the addition of the title: https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/347898.

Condition: a strong and near faultless impression in a near pristine condition.

I am selling this rare and exceptionally beautiful portrait of the renown painter, Renoir, in a contemplative pose, for the total cost of AU $276 (currently/approximately US $181.42/EUR 169.05/GBP 144.66 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU $276) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this fine drypoint executed by the male model in Edgar Degas’ famous painting, “L'Absinthe” (aka “The Absinthe Drinker” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Absinthe]), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold