A polka-dot scarf, plaster maquettes and his marriage certificate are just a few of the personal items from Pierre-Auguste Renoir's estate set to be auctioned off in New York next month.
In what is billed as the biggest collection of the French Impressionist artist’s memorabilia, the Renoir Estate Collection of 143 lots will be sold on September 19, for an estimated US$3 million.
The 20 original sculptural plaster maquettes created during Renoir’s final years with the help of a young assistant, Richard Guino, at the painter’s Les Collettes home in the southeastern French city of Cagnes-sur-Mer are some of the items creating the most interest. The maquettes were produced after arthritis nearly crippled Renoir’s hands, forcing him to have assistants tie a paintbrush to his right hand.
There will also be a selection of letters written to him from friends and contemporaries such as Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and Auguste Rodin.
The artist died in 1919 and the collection was purchased from his grandson in 2005. “This museum-level collection is superb in its completeness and reveals volumes about the man and his art,” said Brian Roughton, managing director of fine art at Heritage Auctions. “It touches every corner of his life and represents the last time this collection will appear assembled ever again.”
Heritage Auctions estimates the top lot will be a 72-inch (1.8-meter) plaster model of Renoir’s sculpture “La Grande Venus Victrix” (“The Great Victorious Venus”).
- AFP
