Nude Torso of Young Girl (Torse nu de jeune fille)

Nude Torso of Young Girl (Torse nu de jeune fille), undated, at the Barnes Foundation, is among the most concentrated of Renoir's late partial nude studies—isolating the torso to explore the modelling of young, feminine flesh without the compositional demands of a full figure. The torso as an isolated study format has sculptural precedent in classical antiquity and Renaissance art, and Renoir's increasing engagement with sculpture in these years may have influenced his interest in the purely formal, three-dimensional qualities of the partial figure. Barnes collected such studies as evidence of his sustained formal investigation.

The torso study focuses Renoir's technique entirely on the modelling of skin in light—the gentle curves of the shoulders, collarbone, and breast rendered with his warmest, most blended flesh modelling. The absence of a defined background or setting reduces the work to a purely chromatic and formal exercise.