Pastel Study for The Great Bathers 1883-1887
By Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The above fresco was an inspiration for Renoir for the Grand Bathers.
Raphael Sanzio, The Triumph of Galatea, Pompei Fresco was an early 16th-century romantic inspiration
for Pierre-Auguste Renoir Grand Bathers also in the water and land.



Pastel Study for the Grand Bathers without the framing glass. 21.7 h. x 28” w. Photo by Greg Ortega



Renoir studied the above sculpture, The Bathing Nymphs, bas-relief, executed after models designed by Francois Girardon (1628-1715) 1668-70 (lead, formerly gilded), to create an inspired post-classical-like tight futuristic, detailed sculptural pastel study of the two front models in his own new interpretation of infinite light, envisioning a new style in 1883. Water below the bas-relief influenced The Grand Bathers, where the figures are heavenly, and the water below is earthly.

Note the grain in the paper below. Artists of the time were working on cotton, rag, or woven paper.



Above is pastel and charcoal on faded blue paper. Stamped with the Degas vente stamp (Lugt 658) at the lower right.
476 x 393 mm. (18 ¾ x 15 ½ in.) 1879



Above is smooth paper used by another artist of the same period as the Bathers Giovanni Boldini, “Girl In A Black Hat,” 1890, pastel on paper, 23 1/4 x 13 in (59 x 33 cm), Private Collection.

What was Gillotage Paper?

In the mid-to-late 19th century, before newspapers could easily print photographs, they needed a way to turn an artist's drawing into a metal "relief" plate for a printing press.

The Texture: Gillot paper (also called papier procédé) was a thick, specially coated paper with a mechanical grain (usually tiny dots, lines, or a cross-hatch pattern) embossed into the surface.

The Effect: When Renoir drew on it with a greasy lithographic crayon, the crayon only hit the "peaks" of the embossed grain. This automatically broke his drawing into a pattern of tiny dots—essentially a manual version of a "halftone" used in modern printing.

The Process: The drawing would then be transferred onto a zinc plate. The dots created by the paper's grain acted as a resist, allowing the acid to eat away the rest of the plate, leaving a printable relief of the drawing.

Why is it so rare (The "Single Roll" Story)? The story you read in Ambroise Vollard’s Renoir: An Intimate Record and John Rewald’s Renoir Drawings is famous among art historians but obscure to the general public.

The "Perfect" Grain: Renoir discovered a specific batch of this paper that had a grain so fine and delicate it perfectly mimicked the softness of human skin and the atmospheric light of his "Bathers" period.

Industrial Obsolescence: As Charles Gillot perfected photogravure (using photography to make plates), the need for these expensive, manually-grained papers vanished. The factory stopped producing the specific roll Renoir loved because there was no longer a commercial market for it in the magazine industry. Why is this crucial for the Renoir pastel case?
If your pastel is on this specific Gillot paper, it is a massive piece of evidence.

The "Fingerprint": Because that paper was produced only for a short window of time (roughly the 1870s–1880s) and from a specific industrial source, the embossed pattern on the paper serves as a fingerprint. Renoir's Hoard: Renoir reportedly bought as much as he could find, but as Vollard notes, once that "single roll" (or specific production run) was gone, it could never be replicated. The chemicals and the physical metal rollers used to emboss that specific grain were destroyed or replaced.

The Match: If the grain pattern on your pastel matches the grain pattern on the Renoir studies in the Musée d'Orsay or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is physically impossible for it to be a fake.



Above, note the screen grain in the paper. The infrared photo above is by Gerritsen, in Amsterdam, front figure, face, and right hand, Pastel Study for The Grand Bathers.



Above, note the screen grain in the paper. The infrared photo above is by Gerritsen, in Amsterdam, front figure, left hand, Pastel Study for The Grand Bathers.



The creases in the above photo are characteristic of the paper Renoir used in all his studies for the Great Bathers—photograph and discovery by Gregory Kitchen. The photograph is of the Pastel Study under glass framing, as discovered in 1993. Background figure left arm and foreground figure right foot.



The creases in the background figure's right arm and the foreground figure's right arm and right knee in the photo above are characteristic of the paper Renoir used in all his studies between 1883 and 1888, including the Great Bathers. The paper was full of these manufacturing defects, which Renoir loved to work into his compositions. This is a section of a Pastel Study under glass framing, as discovered in 1993. Note the pastel dust striping on the inside of the glass from vibration of the antique cardboard backing during 30 years of storage. Photograph, and discovery of the work, by Gregory James Kitchen, New York.

Below are two more examples of creases found in other studies of Great Bathers. Photographs Merrilee Cohen

Above is cropped detail of Renoir's sanguine drawing study under glass for The Grand Bathers, with identical creases and paper grain to the paper of The Pastel Study for the Grand Bathers. Photo by Fogg Museum, taken with a polarizing filter to reduce any reflection of the starch coating that can be seen in the Fogg Drawing, Boston, MA.



The above picture of the framed figurative Pastel Study for the Grand Bathers emphasizes the condition of the inside of the framing glass when the Pastel Study was purchased at the antique show on 18th Street, New York City, in 1993. The cardboard backing of the framing vibrated against the paper of the pastel, causing pastel dust striping by making the pastel painting touch the glass in storage over the period from 1965 to 1993. This is common when pastel has not been correctly stored. We kept the Pastel Study in the frame with the glass as purchased until the McCrone Associates did the pigment testing in September 1999. Photographed with racking light, by Greg Kitchen, New York, 1999. The layer of pastel is so thin that Renoir added blue watercolor to the skin.



The reverse side of the pastel paper is a felt, not screen grain, as on the front side. Also seen is the residue of antique cardboard backing, which stayed stuck to the back of the Pastel Study when the study was removed from the frame to be restored on the edges in the 1930s. The discovery of the black restoration was made by McCrone Associates in 2000. 21.7” x 28”w. Photo by Mary Studt and Margaret Cowan, art conservators. The above photo is the reverse side of the Grand Bathers Pastel Study paper, a felt, not a screen grain, as the front side. Also visible here is the residue of antique cardboard backing, which remained stuck after the cardboard was scraped off when the Grand Bathers Pastel Study was removed from the frame to be restored in the 1930s.





The above photo of paper fibers of the pastel study under a microscope is consistent with all the paper of Renoir’s studies on guilattoge paper.



The Brass Title Plaque from the Pastel Study frame, tested by EMSL Analytical, Inc in 11/2010 and dated to be around World War II . Plaque says in French A Pastel Study For Bathers By Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841 -1919.

Two examples below of Renoir using optics reproduced from Barbara White’s book, Renoir His Life, Art and Letters. The compositions of the foreground are so much alike, as they were traced from the same painting. The dimensions of the works are different, as one is much smaller, but the proportions of the figures to the canvas are the same.



Le Moulin de la Galette, d. 1876. 51 1/2 “ x 69”.
Musee d’Orsay,
Galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris.
Bequest of Gustave Caillebotte



Le Moulin de la Galette, d. 1876. 30 ⅞” x 44 ⅝” Collection Mrs. John Hay Whitney, New York



Pierre-Auguste Renoir's work on the Grand Bathers in order of creation, see page 31, Renoir and Optics



Above is one of the letters of support from Monsieur Francois Daulte, the late Renoir expert, stating “Pastel”



The letter above is from Monsieur Guy-Patrice Dauberville, the present Pastel Expert, who stated he wanted to see the pastel study.



The above label was on the back of the framing, is dated as from the 1930’s by by the print style of the type used, and the telephone number.



Above is Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s signature on the front lower left of the Pastel Study.



Above is Aline Charigot in the color Pastel Study and a sepia photographic portrait of her. Aline was the love of Renoir's life and was the perfect model for his painting. Posing long hours for him. Renoir thought Aline was the perfect model for his paintings.

Black and white drawing of the first model Renoir drew over the Pastel Study on the right.
Please note: the torso and head line up precisely in the middle picture.



Aline Charigot, the wife of Renoir, is in all of the above images cropped from known works of art by Renoir. All facial features are identical, but her age and hairstyle have changed.

---

The tree drawing study in ink above is an example of Renoir's tight classical style during the period of The Great Bathers, Pastel Study, and Painting.