Pierre-Auguste Renoir – The Large Bathers

The Large Bathers – a canvas painted two ways at the same time

The Large Bathers is an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, made between 1884 and 1887. The original measures 117.9 cm x 170.9 cm, is recorded under inventory number 1963-116-13 and is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Our hand-painted painting The Large Bathers is worked in oils on canvas, in eight sizes from 80 x 55 to 160 x 110 cm.

Three figures and a white cloth

Three nude figures sit and recline on a river bank, propped against a white cloth that gathers into broad folds in the foreground. The central bather faces the viewer and holds a cloth in her hands, the one on the left leans back on her elbow, and the third sits beside her with one arm raised. Behind them to the right two more bathers stand in the water, and beyond that a green, sun-dappled bank opens out.

Why hand-painted, not a print

Our version is not a print. On this subject the difference shows at once: the canvas is painted two ways at the same time – the skin smooth, coolly lit and clearly outlined, the background laid in quickly and broadly. After his journey to Italy Renoir was looking for exactly that firm contour and that sculpturally modelled body. A hand-painted painting keeps both handlings and the join between them, which printed paper flattens into an even screen.

In the room

The scene is light, horizontal and drawn out, so it wants a wide wall and some distance: above a bed, above a long sofa, or in a hallway where you can step back and take in the whole. The warm flesh tones and the green background sit well with pale wood and a white or sand-coloured wall; against a strongly painted wall the subject loses exactly the softness that carries it. For an ordinary wall 100 x 70 cm is enough, above a larger piece of furniture we recommend 130 x 90 cm, and for a really wide wall 160 x 110 cm.

What you receive

We paint the canvas to order, by hand and for you alone, so every copy is made on its own; the canvas is usually painted and dried within three to four weeks. If you prefer, we will paint it in a size that is not on the list. Before despatch we send you a photograph of the finished canvas for your approval, and only then does the painting go out. The Large Bathers arrives stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang, wrapped in protective film and in rigid packaging, with no further stretching or finishing needed.

• Subject: three nude figures on a river bank with a white cloth, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Technique: hand-painted oil painting on canvas, stretched on a wooden frame
• Sizes: 8 sizes, from 80 x 55 cm to 160 x 110 cm, another size on request
• Detail worth knowing: painted after Renoir’s journey to Italy, when he was after a firm outline and a sculpturally modelled body

See also:

• Reclining Nude
• Dance at the Moulin de la Galette
• Two Sisters (On the Terrace)