Beschreibung:

RENOIR, Pierre Auguste (1841-1919). Two autograph letters signed to Dr Fritz Thurneyssen, Paris and Les Collettes, Cagnes, 24 June 1908 and 14 February 1913, THE FIRST INCLUDING A ROUGH SKETCH OF THE PROPOSED FRAME FOR RENOIR'S PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDER THURNEYSSEN, the second on a bifolium together with an autograph letter to [Madame Thurneyssen] by Gabrielle Renard, together 3 pages, 8°, in Renoir's autograph, on bifolia (letter of 24 June 1908 split at horizontal fold on first leaf, not affecting sketch; letter of 14 February 1913 with short tears to folds). Renoir writes in 1908 about preparations to pack and dispatch his portrait of Alexander Thurneyssen 'par grande vitesse'; he has enclosed a model in paper of the oval, and gives advice for the framing of the picture: 'Faire une planchette ovale de la grandeur du papier, de 3 ou 4 millimètres d'epaisseur en or mat , sans aucuns ornements, et mettre toile avec sa planchette dans un cadre carré--toujours doré'. Renoir's letter of February 1913, and Gabrielle Renard's letter, on the same bifolium, thanks Thurneyssen for a gift of beer and tongue; Gabrielle reports that 'le patron va assez bien', and gives news of the rest of the household. Renoir first met the Munich intellectual Dr Fritz Thurneyssen (1872-1947) in Cagnes in 1908, and on this occasion painted a three-quarter length portrait of his wife, and the head of his ten year old son Alexander referred to here. A stay with the Thurneyssens at Wessling-am-See in 1910 resulted in the more famous portraits of Madame Thurneyssen (in a memorably sensual pose with her daughter) and the striking Alexander as a 'Young Shepherd in Repose'. The model Gabrielle Renard was a younger cousin of Madame Renoir, and was part of the Renoir household from 1894 until her marriage to the American painter Conrad Slade (2)