Landscape on the Coast, near Menton
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(French, 1841–1919)
1883
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions65.7 x 81.3 cm (25 7/8 x 32 in.)
Credit LineBequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession number48.596
On View
On viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
In December 1883 Monet and Renoir traveled along the Mediterranean coast from Marseille to Genoa. The trip was Renoir’s first to the region where he would settle at the end of his life. Smitten by its beauty, he wrote to his patron Paul Berard, “…alas our poor palette can’t match up to it.” Nevertheless, with brilliant color and feathery brushstrokes, this picture sets out to capture the place, inviting the viewer into a windswept grove on bluffs overlooking the sea.
InscriptionsLower right: Renoir. 83.ProvenanceAugust 25, 1891, purchased by Durand-Ruel, Paris (stock no. 1462) [see note 1]; April 7, 1897, sold by Durand-Ruel, Paris to Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 1848); July 25, 1923, sold by Durand-Ruel, New York to Annie Swan (Mrs. Lewis Larned) Coburn (b. 1856 - d. 1932), Chicago [see note 2]. 1924, Durand-Ruel, New York; December 1, 1924, sold by Durand-Ruel to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)NOTES:
[1] According to a letter from Durand-Ruel to the MFA (September 4, 1998), the gallery purchased the painting on August 25, 1891; it is not known from whom.
[2] Correspondence from Durand-Ruel, New York to John Taylor Spaulding (May 15, 1924) states that the gallery purchased the painting directly from the artist, sold it in Paris to the Prince de Wagram, and after the prince's death in 1918, acquired it again. However, in 1998, Durand-Ruel (as above, n. 1) provided the MFA with a copy of notes from their archives (July 26, 1923), indicating that the New York branch of the gallery acquired the painting in 1897 and sold it to Mrs. A. S. Coburn in 1923. The stock and photograph numbers identified with the painting sold to Mrs. Coburn are also found on the reverse of the MFA painting's original stretcher. It is therefore likely that in 1924, the MFA composition was confused with another painting and an incorrect provenance was provided.
