Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano

Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano, 1913, held in the Musée Renoir at Cagnes, is a formal late portrait depicting a woman of Italian origin or connection—the Romano name suggesting Italian lineage. By 1913 Renoir painted relatively few formal society portraits, preferring his informal figure studies, but he continued to accept portrait commissions from friends and acquaintances in the Riviera social world that surrounded his Cagnes property. The Musée Renoir provenance suggests the portrait may have been a gift or was retained by the family after the artist's death.

A formal 1913 portrait would employ Renoir's late mature figure approach: warm, blended flesh modelling in the face and hands, more loosely applied treatment of clothing and background, with the sitter's personality conveyed through colour warmth rather than psychological penetration.