The Laundress
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)1877–79
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s model for The Laundress was Nini Lopez, whom he painted regularly between 1874 and 1880 in his scenes of modern life. He made this canvas shortly after completing the illustrations for Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir (The Drunkard), a gritty novel about the downfall of a laundress in the brutal and degrading world of working-class Paris. Unlike those illustrations , this painting lacks any portrayal of backbreaking labor or social oppression. Renoir chose instead to visually reference the 19th-century stereotype of laundresses being promiscuous, signaled in this and other contemporary depictions of such figures by the sleeve slipping off the shoulder. This young woman appears artfully disheveled and rosy-cheeked as she tends to the laundry in her affluent employer’s home, standing next to a basket of linens and a stove used to heat irons.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 80.8 × 56.5 cm (31 13/16 × 22 1/4 in.)
Museum record · 4 owners · 8 exhibitions
Provenance
- The artist (d. 1919); possibly sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 15, 1882; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Aug. 3, 1905, for 8,500 francs; sold to the Prince de Wagram (Alexandre Berthier, 4th Prince de Wagram), Paris, by Feb. 24, 1906; sold back to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Feb. 24, 1906, for 9,000 francs; possibly sold to Léon Orosdi, Paris (d. 1922), Mar. 2, 1906.
- Galérie Barbazanges, Paris, by Jan. 4, 1923.; sold to Meyer Goodfriend, New York and Paris, by Jan. 4, 1923.
- Meyer Goodfriend sale, New York and Paris, New American Art Galleries, New York, Jan. 5, 1923, lot 109, to John Levy Galleries, New York, for $2,000..
- Howard Young, New York, by Mar. 28, 1923.; sold to Charles H. Worcester (d. 1956), Chicago, by Mar. 28, 1923; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1947.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, as Laveuse.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Worcester Collection, July 24–Sept. 23, 1923, no cat. Toledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 7–Dec. 12, 1937.
- New York, Wildenstein, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the American Association of Museums in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir’s Death, Mar. 27–May 3, 1969.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3–Apr. 1, 1973.
- Atlanta, High Museum of Art, May 25, 1984–May 30, 1985, no cat. Tokyo, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870–1892, Feb. 10–Apr. 15, 2001; Nagoya City Art Museum, Apr. 21–June 24, 2001.
- Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, Renoir’s Women, Sept. 23, 2005–Jan. 8, 2006.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism, Oct. 8, 2023-Jan. 14, 2024.
