ARTWORKS

A Nymph by a Stream

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919)

The National Gallery, London

A Nymph by a Stream

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This is one of the first nudes that Renoir painted. He took a traditional artistic approach, depicting the woman in a natural setting, reclining by a stream as though she were a naiad (water nymph) from the world of Greek mythology. She appears to be lying on a grassy, flower-flecked bank beside the stream, leaning with her elbow in the brook and allowing the water to flow between her fingers, but Renoir’s brushstrokes are so fluid that we can’t be entirely sure where the bank ends and the water begins.

This painting is also – in some senses – a portrait. Rather than idealising the nymph’s features in the way that more academic contemporary painters, such as Ingres, would have done, Renoir has made her recognisable. She is Lise Tréhot, the artist’s lover and the female model for almost all of his work during the early stages of his career.

The National Gallery, London

London

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Title

A Nymph by a Stream

Date

1869-70

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 66.7 x W 122.9 cm

Accession number

NG5982

Acquisition method

Bought, 1951

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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Artist or maker

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

1841–1919

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