{"data":{"id":59944,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/59944","is_boosted":false,"title":"The Laundress","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAwAFAPMAADhcX0dSUUZbVVJdVkdhZlZoZkVqcWltZGN\/aH6Da3mEfHyIfXuTdoeQiZSioAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAADAAUAAAQLUCymHCrmENBGSBEAOw==","width":13079,"height":19263,"alt_text":"A work made of oil on canvas."},"main_reference_number":"1947.102","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1877,"date_end":1879,"date_display":"1877\u201379","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841\u20131919)","place_of_origin":"France","description":"<p>Pierre-Auguste Renoir\u2019s model for <em>The Laundress<\/em> 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 \u00c9mile Zola\u2019s <em>L\u2019Assommoir<\/em> (<em>The Drunkard<\/em>), a gritty novel about the downfall of a laundress in the brutal and degrading world of working-class Paris. Unlike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/artworks\/105461\/workers-daughters-on-the-outer-boulevard-illustration-for-emile-zola-s-l-assommoir\/\"> those illustrations <\/a>, 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\u2019s home, standing next to a basket of linens and a stove used to heat irons.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"80.8 \u00d7 56.5 cm (31 13\/16 \u00d7 22 1\/4 in.); Framed: 100.4 \u00d7 79.4 \u00d7 9.6 cm (39 1\/2 \u00d7 31 1\/4 \u00d7 3 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":56,"height":80,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":9,"width":79,"height":100,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed lower left: Renoir","credit_line":"Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, exh. cat. (Imp. de l\u2019Art, E. M\u00e9nard et Cie, 1892), p. 37, cat. 8.\n\n\u201cRenoir Painting Sold for $7,000,\u201d New York Times, Jan. 6, 1923, p. 13.\n\nNew American Art Galleries, Paintings and Pastels by the Barbizon Masters, Their Contemporaries the French Impressionists, and Modern French Painters Forming the Private Collection of Mr. Meyer Goodfriend New York\u2013Paris, sale cat. (New American Art Galleries, Jan. 4\u20135, 1923), lot 109.\n\nToledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, exh. cat. (Toledo Museum of Art, 1937), n.pag., cat. 30 (ill.).\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, Catalogue of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings (Lakeside, 1938), pp. 77\u201378; pl. 46\/cat. 80.\n\nEdith Weigle, \u201cGift of Art,\u201d Chicago Daily Tribune, May 25, 1947, p. C6 (ill.).\n\n\u201cDonor to Get Honor Degree at Art Institute,\u201d Chicago Daily Tribune, June 13, 1947, p. 21.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cComplete List of Works,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 41, 5 [pt. 3] (Sept.\u2013Oct. 1947), p. 63.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cThe Magnificent Worcester Gift,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 42, 2, pt. 3 (Feb. 1948), p. 4 (ill.).\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cThe Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 50, 3 (Sept. 15, 1956), p. 44.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961; reissue, 1968), p. 396.\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cGreat Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 84, 55 (Sept. 1966), p. 203.\n\nFran\u00e7ois Daulte, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the American Association of Museums in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir\u2019s Death, exh. cat. (Wildenstein, 1969), cat. 37 (ill.).\n\nFran\u00e7ois Daulte, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonn\u00e9 de l\u2019oeuvre peint, vol. 1, Figures, 1860\u20131890 (Durand-Ruel, 1971), pp. 254\u201355, cat. 348 (ill.); 416.\n\nElda Fezzi, L\u2019opera completa di Renoir, nel periodo impressionista, 1869\u20131883, Classici dell\u2019arte 59 (Rizzoli, 1972), p. 108, cat. 434 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), pp. 26; 86; 90\u201391, cat. 31 (ill.).\n\nSophie Monneret, Renoir, Profils de l\u2019art (Ch\u00eane, 1989), p. 153, cat. 8 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Treasures of 19th- and 20th-Century Painting: The Art Institute of Chicago, with an introduction by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago\/Abbeville, 1993), p. 79 (ill.).\n\nGerhard Gruitrooy, Renoir: A Master of Impressionism (Todtri Productions, 1994), p. 109 (ill.).\n\nDouglas W. Druick, Renoir, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago\/Abrams, 1997), pp. 30; 37\u201338; 87, pl. 6; 108 (detail).\n\nKatsunori Fukaya, \u201cThe Laundress,\u201d in Bridgestone Museum of Art and Nagoya City Art Museum, Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870\u20131892, exh. cat. (Bridgestone Museum of Art\/Nagoya City Art Museum\/Chunichi Shimbun, 2001), pp. 82\u201383, cat. 13 (ill.).\n\nPaul Hayes Tucker, \u201cRenoir in the 1870s and \u201980s: Modernity, Tradition, and Individuality,\u201d in Bridgestone Museum of Art and Nagoya City Art Museum, Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870\u20131892, trans. Yumiko Yamazaki and Yuko Tatsuno, exh. cat. (Bridgestone Museum of Art\/Nagoya City Art Museum\/Chunichi Shimbun, 2001), pp. 37\u201338, 223.\n\nAnn Dumas and John Collins, Renoir\u2019s Women, exh. cat. (Columbus Museum of Art\/Merrell, 2005), pp. 11, fig. 2; 118.\n\nGuy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, with the collaboration of Camille Fr\u00e9montier-Murphy, Renoir: Catalogue raisonn\u00e9 des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, 1858\u20131881, vol. 1 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), p. 409, cat. 382 (ill.).\n\nGloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago\/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 17; 68\u201369, cat. 25 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago\/Yale Unversity Press, 2008), pp. 17; 68-69, cat. 25 (ill.).\n\nAnne Distel, Renoir, Les Phares (Citadelles et Mazenod, 2009), pp. 158\u201359, ill. 142; 310.\n\n\u201cCat. 6: The Laundress, 1877\/79,\u201d in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/renoir\/reader\/paintingsanddrawings\/section\/138973\">https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/renoir\/reader\/paintingsanddrawings\/section\/138973<\/a>.\n\nBritany Salsbury, Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism, exh. cat. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2023), 37, 165, 169 (ill.), 204-05 cat. 51.","exhibition_history":"Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, cat. 8, as Laveuse.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Worcester Collection, July 24\u2013Sept. 23, 1923, no cat.\n\nToledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 7\u2013Dec. 12, 1937, cat. 30 (ill.).\n\nNew York, Wildenstein, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the American Association of Museums in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir\u2019s Death, Mar. 27\u2013May 3, 1969, cat. 37 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3\u2013Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 31 (ill.).\n\nAtlanta, High Museum of Art, May 25, 1984\u2013May 30, 1985, no cat.\n\nTokyo, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870\u20131892, Feb. 10\u2013Apr. 15, 2001, cat. 13 (ill.); Nagoya City Art Museum, Apr. 21\u2013June 24, 2001.\n\nColumbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, Renoir\u2019s Women, Sept. 23, 2005\u2013Jan. 8, 2006, cat. 2.\n\nFort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 25 (ill.).\n\nCleveland Museum of Art, Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism, Oct. 8, 2023-Jan. 14, 2024, cat. 51.","provenance_text":"The artist (d. 1919); possibly sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 15, 1882 [per Durand-Ruel Archives, Paris, stock book for 1880\u201384 (no. 2464), and for 1891 (no. 1520), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Aug. 3, 1905, for 8,500 francs [per Durand-Ruel Archives, Paris, stock book 1901 (no. 1520), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; sold to the Prince de Wagram (Alexandre Berthier, 4th Prince de Wagram), Paris, by Feb. 24, 1906 [this and the two following per Dauberville and Dauberville 2007)]; sold back to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Feb. 24, 1906, for 9,000 francs; possibly sold to L\u00e9on Orosdi, Paris (d. 1922), Mar. 2, 1906. Gal\u00e9rie Barbazanges, Paris, by Jan. 4, 1923. [this and the following per New American Art Galleries sale cat., January 4\u20135, 1923, lot 109]; 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. [According to an annotated copy of New York, New American Art Galleries sale cat., Jan. 4\u20135, 1923, lot 109, photocopy in curatorial object file]. Howard Young, New York, by Mar. 28, 1923. [this and the following per verso of an archival photograph of The Laundress inscribed by Howard Young and dated Mar. 28, 1923, curatorial object file]; sold to Charles H. Worcester (d. 1956), Chicago, by Mar. 28, 1923; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1947.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1947,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":31.0701,"color":{"h":54,"l":50,"s":66,"percentage":0.00028607064800723183,"population":3},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 201","gallery_id":2147483643,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":36351,"artist_title":"Pierre-Auguste Renoir","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[36351],"artist_titles":["Pierre-Auguste Renoir"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-839"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Save Ferris"],"term_titles":["painting","Impressionism","oil painting","women","oil paint (paint)","nineteenth century","19th century","painting techniques","painting (image making)","painting","painting","paint","canvas","portrait","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","french","portrait","portraits: female subject","labor","interior","basket","textile","woman","european painting","work","portraits"],"style_id":"TM-7543","style_title":"Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_ids":["TM-7543","TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_titles":["Impressionism","nineteenth century","19th century"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-12855","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-14976","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-12855","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-14976","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["painting","portrait","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","french","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8735","alt_subject_ids":["TM-14105","TM-8582","TM-12464","TM-14037","TM-15693","TM-14573","TM-15749","TM-10093","TM-8658"],"subject_ids":["TM-8735","TM-14105","TM-8582","TM-12464","TM-14037","TM-15693","TM-14573","TM-15749","TM-10093","TM-8658"],"subject_titles":["women","portrait","portraits: female subject","labor","interior","basket","textile","woman","work","portraits"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","paint","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3971","TM-3891","TM-14210"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-3891","TM-14210"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting (image making)","painting"],"theme_titles":["Save Ferris"],"image_id":"98d3c331-a4ef-f4a5-53a4-b9632a0b727c","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[36741098979],"section_titles":["Cat. 6 \u00a0The Laundress, 1877\/79"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1947.102"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Laundress"],"weight":5188,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-10-01T15:11:35-05:00","updated_at":"2026-10-05T23:25:31-05:00","timestamp":"2026-10-18T16:37:35-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.16"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}