Aline Victorine Charigot (23 May 1859 – 27 June 1915) was a model for

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

and later became his wife while continuing to model for him and then caring for him when he became disabled. She is pictured in many of his paintings over very many years, most famously in the early 1880s ''

Luncheon of the Boating Party ''Luncheon of the Boating Party'' french: Le Déjeuner des canotiers is an 1881 painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Included in the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, it was identified as the best painting in the show ...

'' (where she is the woman on the left with the little dog), and '' Blonde Bather''. They had three children together, two of whom,

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and

Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

, went on to have distinguished careers in film, and the third, Claude, became a ceramic artist. Pierre had a son Claude who became the well-known cinematographer. She predeceased her elderly husband.

Biography

Aline Charigot was born on 23 May 1859 to a farming family who cultivated grapes in

Essoyes Essoyes () is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France. Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir had a house in the town. The village, hometown of his wife Aline and model and governess of his children Gabrielle Renard, i ...

in the department of

Aube Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

, Paris, where she worked as a dressmaker. In about 1880 she met Auguste Renoir, when she was twenty and he nearly forty, and started modelling for him. She gave birth to their first son,

, in 1885 and they married in Paris on 14 April 1890. They had two other sons,

born 1894 and Claude born 1901. From 1888 the couple spent progressively more time living in Essoyes, buying a house there in 1896. In 1903 they moved to

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

, building a new house there, ''Les Collettes'', between 1905 and 1909. Pierre became a prominent stage and film actor; Jean became a famous film ''

auteur An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...

'', actor, and author; and Claude became a ceramic artist. Pierre had a son Claude (Aline and Auguste's grandson) who became the well-known cinematographer. After Claude's birth she developed diabetes but hid this from her husband. Pierre and Jean were drafted into the army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and both were injured, Jean badly so. Aline died from a heart attack in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

on 27 June 1915 after a hospital visit to Jean so predeceasing her elderly and disabled husband by four years. She was buried in the south of France and then her remains were moved to Essoyes to be alongside her mother.

Personality

Charigot had a love of the arts – she played the piano and decorated her bedroom with paintings by

Johan Jongkind Johan Barthold Jongkind (3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism. Biography Jongkind was born in the town of Lattro ...

. According to

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emotio ...

, in 1907 she designed and managed the building of the Renoirs' new villa at Cagnes-sur-Mer. She took care of her children as they grew up and supervised their various nannies and maids, notable amongst whom was her cousin

Gabrielle Renard Gabrielle Renard (August 1, 1878 – February 26, 1959) was a French woman who became an important member of the family of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, first becoming their nanny, and subsequently a frequent model for the artist. The bond ...

. This became very important as Renoir's

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are inv ...

became severe as he aged. She was blonde and had become comfortably plump from quite a young age. Renoir's biographer, Barbara White, describes the appearance of the model in the 1881 '' Blonde Bather'' as "rotund" and the 1885 and 1886 portraits being of a curvaceous woman.

Modelling

Charigot modelled for Renoir's paintings, sculptures and drawings over a long period from 1880 to 1915. She only sat for three portraits by her husband but she appeared in many of his subject paintings. In the 1880s she was Renoir's main model for the period in which he changed his manner of figure painting towards an "Ingresque" style. After her death Renoir made a terracotta sculpture of Aline as a

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

for a monument for her grave. Because of his arthritis he supervised the sculptor Richard Guino in doing the modelling, based in his 1885 painting of her nursing their first child (see below). The monument was never created but the work was used as a basis for a bronze bust placed by her grave.

Gallery

This list includes Renoir's main works of or including Aline Charigot. Some paintings have been done in several similar versions – in these cases a representative one has been chosen. File:Renoir-Oarsmen at Chatou-1879.jpg, ''Oarsmen at

Chatou Chatou () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Chatou is a part of the affluent suburbs of western Paris and is on the northwest side of the Seine river about from the city's center. ...

'', 1879 File:Renoir 1880 Madame Renoir with a Dog.jpg, ''Madame Renoir with a Dog'', 1880 File:Renoir 1880 Young woman reading a Journal.jpg, ''Young Woman reading an illustrated Journal'', 1880 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

'', 1880–1881 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Boating Couple (said to be Aline Charigot and Renoir) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Boating Couple'', 1881 Also known as ''Aline Charigot and Renoir''. File:Renoir Blond Bather.jpg, '' Blonde Bather'', 1881 File:Pierre Auguste Renoir - Country Dance - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Dance in the Country ''Dance in the Country'' (French: ''Danse à la campagne'') is an 1883 oil painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is currently kept at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Background This painting was commissioned in 1882 by the merchant Pa ...

'', 1883

Suzanne Valadon Suzanne Valadon (23 September 18657 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des ...

posed for ''

Dance in the City ''Dance in the City'' is a painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 1883 work is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. The dancers are model and artist Suzanne Valadon and Renoir's friend Paul Auguste Lhôte. This work, along with ...

''. File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French - The Large Bathers - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Large Bathers'', 1884–1887 Aline centre. File:Renoir 1884 Aline at the Gate.jpg, ''Aline at the Gate or Girl in the Garden'', 1884 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Madame Renoir (c. 1885, small).jpg, ''Portrait of Madame Renoir'', 1885 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - In the Garden.jpg, ''In the Garden'', 1885 File:Auguste Renoir - Maternity - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Maternity'' or ''Child at the Breast'', 1885 File:Renoir 1886 Mother and Child.jpg, ''Mother and Child'', 1886 File:Renoir 1886 Nursing (Aline and her Pierre).jpg, ''Maternity or Nursing (Aline and her Pierre)'', 1886 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Madame Renoir et son fils Pierre.jpg, ''Madame Renoir and her son Pierre'', 1890 File:The Apple Seller, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.47.jpg, ''The Apple Seller'', 1890 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - The Artist's Family (La Famille de l'artiste) - BF819 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, ''The Artist's Family'', 1896 Aline with the hat. File:Renoir 1910 Madame Renoir and Bob.jpg, ''Madame Renoir and Bob'', 1910

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charigot, Aline 1859 births 1915 deaths Renoir family People from Aube French artists' models People of Montmartre