Femme accoudée
This small format painting was not always a work in its own right. It was initially part of a painting bringing together several of the artist’s different motifs. This motif was probably cut out after Renoir’s death to create this small composition. For example, in the original painting, above this Woman leaning on her Hand, there used to be another composition with the same model but in profile, half-length, and holding her right hand out towards the viewer. In the Orangerie painting, the woman is shown leaning on her elbow, her head resting on her hand, while her right arm appears disproportionately large in relation to her head. Her brown hair swept back, reveals a round face and a mouth with full red lips. She has a powerful neck, and wears a low-cut, revealing neckline. The background of the painting, with touches of colour, remains undefined except for the upper part on the right, where motifs of flowers and leaves can be seen. There are other compositions similar to this Woman leaning on her Hand, sometimes in the same reduced formats or sometimes larger, as in the case of Le concert in the Ontario Art Gallery in Toronto. Paul Guillaume acquired the painting in 1929.
