Lucie Berard (Child in White)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was celebrated in his lifetime for capturing the nuanced expressions of childhood. Recognizing this, his patron Paul-Antoine Berard commissioned the artist to paint a number of portraits of his four children, in addition to likenesses of himself and his wife. Here, Renoir portrayed Lucie, Berard’s youngest and one of the artist’s favorite models, as the picture of innocence at three years old. Her small hands, positioned rather formally at her sides, lack the accessories, like toys and books, found in some other of Renoir’s portraits of children; her white dress and subtle smile invoke a serene but fleeting moment of youth.