Description
A woman with auburn hair pinned up bends her head down in quiet concentration, her hands, visible at the bottom of the canvas, occupied with a piece of crochet work. She wears a black dress with a full, softly painted white lace collar that catches most of the light in the composition, set against a loosely brushed background of blues and greens.
Renoir renders her face with warm, delicate color while letting the collar dissolve into thick, textured strokes of white and pale blue, and the dark dress and background recede into shadow. The mood is intimate and domestic, the sitter absorbed entirely in her needlework.
Held today at the Barnes Foundation, this painting is available as a hand-painted oil reproduction or an archival canvas print, made to order in sizes that keep the original’s proportions, close to a 41 x 32.5 cm ratio, so the composition reads as Renoir intended.



