Portrait of Mme. Paulin

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Portrait of Mme. Paulin (1887) was painted during Renoir's Ingresque period — the years following his visit to Italy in 1881 when he turned away from Impressionism toward a harder, more classical figure style he associated with Raphael and Ingres. The so-called 'dry' or 'sour' period produced work that disappointed some collectors expecting Impressionist softness but that Renoir considered essential to his development. His portraits from this period are characterized by careful draughtsmanship, cleaner contours, and a more controlled palette than his Impressionist decade.

The Ingresque influence is visible in Renoir's harder drawing and smoother surface in this period's portraits: contours are more precise, brushwork more controlled, the flesh modeling more academic. The palette remains warm and characteristically Renoir — the specific pinks and warm peaches of his flesh tones — but applied with greater deliberation. Dress and accessories are rendered with careful attention to fabric texture. The overall handling reflects his reassessment of classical tradition during these years of formal experimentation.