Nude Figure of a Girl

Renoir's nude figure studies of the mid-1880s reflect his sustained engagement with the formal challenge of the female nude — a subject he returned to throughout his career as a testing ground for his pictorial philosophy. By 1885 he was moving through the 'Ingrist' or 'dry' phase that followed his crisis of confidence in Impressionism, and his nudes from this period show increased attention to drawing and structural clarity even as they retain his characteristic warmth and sensuousness. The young female nude as subject carried both aesthetic and commercial significance — Renoir's nudes were among his most commercially successful works.

The mid-1880s nude shows Renoir's 'dry' period technique — the brushwork more controlled and the drawing more precise than his purely Impressionist nudes, the influence of his intensive study of Ingres and Raphael evident in the careful contour and smooth surface. The flesh modeling maintains warmth despite the increased structural discipline, and his characteristic sensitivity to the way light plays on skin is retained throughout the period of stylistic reconsideration.