Pierre-Auguste Renoir | In the Studio, 1877

Pierre-Auguste Renoir often used his friends as models for genre scenes, most of which were posed and painted in the studio.

The sitters for this small painting were the amateur critic Georges Rivière and the artist's model Marguerite Legrand, known professionally as Margot.

• Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919).
• Title: In the Studio (Georges Riviere and Marguerite Legrand).
• Date: Between 1876 and 1877.
• Medium: Oil on canvas.
• Dimensions: 35 x 25 cm.
• Collection: Dallas Museum of Art.

Rivière was a fervent supporter of impressionism and published a short-lived journal called L'Impressionisme, in which he championed Renoir for the way he captured contemporary Parisian life.

In later years, Rivière wrote that Margot, the model with whom he posed, "personified the trashy working-class suburban girl".

Renoir's depiction of the mismatched couple, though, was sophisticated enough that for many decades the painting was believed to be a portrait of the Romantic composer Benjamin Goddard and his wife. | © Dallas Museum of Art

Pierre-Auguste Renoir spesso usava i suoi amici come modelli per scene di genere, la maggior parte delle quali erano posate e dipinte in studio.

I soggetti di questo piccolo dipinto erano il critico amatoriale Georges Rivière e la modella dell'artista Marguerite Legrand, conosciuta professionalmente come Margot.

Rivière fu un fervente sostenitore dell'impressionismo e pubblicò un giornale di breve durata chiamato L'Impressionisme, in cui sosteneva Renoir per il modo in cui catturava la vita parigina contemporanea.

Negli anni successivi, Rivière scrisse che Margot, la modella con cui posava, "personificava la povera ragazza suburbana della classe operaia".

La raffigurazione di Renoir della coppia disadattata, tuttavia, era abbastanza sofisticata che per molti decenni il dipinto fu ritenuto un ritratto del compositore romantico Benjamin Goddard e sua moglie. | © Dallas Museum of Art