OR THE TALE OF TWO FOREPAWS, TWO   PAINTERS  AND TWO NOBLEWOMEN

1842   -  Turner in London, looking with an eagle eye at a proof-engraving of his Nemi, based on a magical

watercolor-design of an Italian lake near Rome.  A dog stands in the water, just off center, completely still. For

nearly fifty years, Turner has been in the habit of improving upon his design during the print-making process - for

several such examples, see another exhibition in our galleries:  Birth of an Engraving. This occasion is no

exception. He takes a lead pencil to draw a vital correction: he moves the dog’s forepaw forward. This single

change has a dramatic impact on Nemi: it aligns the dog movement with the gestures of two young girls to his right

and left and draws attention to the sunny serenity of this summer-scene. The image is now complete - perfect.

Turner must have been in a happy mood when he created this wonder, at 67 in the full tide of his artistic powers.

Turner & Renoir

1869 - a generation later, in July that year,  two painters: Renoir, not yet 30,  and Monet are busy working on a

magical scene in  front of them: La Grenouillère, one of their favorite hangouts. A little downriver from Paris, this

bathing and boating resort is described with equal magic by Renoir’s son in his tender memoir Renoir, my father: 

Through the courtesy of the Nationalmuseum Stockholm.

“The name “Grenouillere” (frog-pond)...derived not from the numerous batrachians which swarmed in the surrounding

fields, but from a quite different species of frog. It was a term applied to ladies of easy virtue: not exactly prostitutes but,

rather, a class of unattached women, characteristic of the Parisian scene before and after the Empire, changing lovers

easily, satisfying any whim, going nonchalantly from a mansion on the Champs Elysees to a garret in the Batignolles. To

them we owe the memory of Paris which was brilliant, witty and amusing.”

He continues:” “Among that group Renoir got a great many of his volunteer models. According to him, the grenouilles, or

'frogs' were often 'very good sorts'. Because the French people love a medley of classes, actresses, society women and

respectable middle-class also patronized the... restaurant “  While his great friend Monet concentrated his attention on

nature, Renoir in the best tradition of Turner, was intent on integrating the happy riverside strollers who crossed the

footbridge to the small artificial island, into the overall scheme of his painting. And the canines!

One of his dogs extends his forepaw just like Turner’s in Nemi. Surely, not one of those ‘coincidences’!

In the process Renoir creates one his greatest works, his first truly impressionistic masterpiece, the celebrated La

Grenouillère.

Another “coincidence”: In July 1869, Napoleon III and his noble consort, the empress Eugenie visit it, giving the

place an effective top-level endorsement. In her company is another noble woman, Pauline, the Princess

Metternich, wife of the Austro-Hungarian ambassador in Paris. Pauline was the patroness of Johann Strauss who

introduced the Viennese waltz into the musical repertoire of the French capital. And of course it is no coincidence

that not in a few of Renoir’s most memorable paintings his Parisian beauties dance to the strains of the Viennese

waltz.

The Turner’s very personal touch:

And of course it is absolutely no coincidence at all that Pauline is the great-great aunt the founder of this museum!

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