This painting depicts a favorite Parisian pastime in the late nineteenth century: attending the circus. Among the enthusiastic crowds at these events were men on the prowl in a world of young female entertainers. But Pierre-Auguste Renoir barely alluded to the unwholesome aspects of this environment, relegating a group of dark-suited men, seated in the front row, to the very top of the composition. \u201cFor me a picture . . . should be something likeable, joyous, and pretty,\u201d Renoir insisted. \u201cThere are enough ugly things in life for us not to add to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando<\/em> re\ufb02ects this worldview as well as the artist\u2019s enchantment with the innocence of childhood. The two circus girls in this painting, Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, were actually seventeen and fourteen years old, respectively, when Renoir made this painting, although they appear much younger here. Although they were acrobats in the circus, Renoir posed the sisters in costume at his studio, allowing him to capture them in daylight\u2014he feared that the circus\u2019s harsh gas lighting would turn \u201cfaces into grimaces.\u201d He portrayed them standing in the middle of the circus ring, having just \ufb01nished their act and taking their bows. One sister turns to the crowd, acknowledging its approval, while the other faces the viewer with an armful of oranges, a rare treat that audiences tossed in tribute. Renoir enveloped the girls in a virtual halo of pinks, oranges, yellows, and whites, as if acknowledging the rose-colored lens through which he preferred to view such scenes. The painting\u2019s \ufb01rst owner, Chicago collector Bertha Honor\u00e9 Palmer, became so enamored of it that she kept it with her at all times, even on her travels abroad.<\/p>\n","short_description":"The two girls in this painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, acrobats who performed in the famed Cirque Fernando in Paris. They are depicted clutching oranges tossed to them from the crowd as gifts. Although they are painted standing in the center of a circus ring, Renoir actually painted them in his studio, where he could take full advantage of natural sunlight.","dimensions":"131.2 \u00d7 99.2 cm (51 1\/2 \u00d7 39 1\/16 in.); Framed: 160.1 \u00d7 129 \u00d7 10.2 cm (63 \u00d7 50 3\/4 \u00d7 4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":99,"height":131,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":10,"width":129,"height":160,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed lower left: Renoir","credit_line":"Potter Palmer Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Edmond Renoir, \u201cCinqui\u00e8me exposition de La vie moderne, P.-A. Renoir,\u201d La vie moderne 1, 11 (June 19, 1879) p. 175.\n\nL. de Beaumarchez, \u201c5e exposition de la \u2018Vie moderne.\u2019 P.-A. Renoir,\u201d La presse, June 23, 1879, p. 2.\n\nFichtre, \u201cL\u2019actualit\u00e9: L\u2019exposition des peintres independents,\u201d Le r\u00e9veil, Mar. 2, 1882, p. 1. Reprinted in Ruth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874\u20131886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/University of Washington Press, 1996), p. 387.\n\nAmerican Art Association, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, exh. cat. (J. J. Little\/American Art Galleries, 1886), p. 35, cat. 209.\n\nAmerican Art Association, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, exh. cat. (National Academy of Design, 1886), p. 48, cat. 209.\n\n\u201cFrench Impressionists,\u201d New York Times, May 28, 1886, p. 5.\n\nDurand-Ruel, Paris, Exposition A. Renoir, exh. cat. (Imp. de l\u2019Art\/E. M\u00e9nard, 1892), p. 37, no. 3.\n\nJulius Meier-Graefe, Auguste Renoir (R. Piper, 1911), p. 16. Translated into French by A. S. Maillet as Auguste Renoir (H. Floury, 1912), p. 12.\n\nAmbroise Vollard, Tableaux, pastels et dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol. 1 (A. Vollard, 1918), p. 87, no. 348 (ill.).\n\nAmbroise Vollard, La vie and l\u2019oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir (A. Vollard, 1919), p. 67. Translated by Harold L. Van Doren and Randolph T. Weaver as Renoir: An Intimate Record (Knopf, 1925), pp. 69, 237.\n\nGeorges Rivi\u00e8re, Renoir et ses amis (H. Floury, 1921), pp. 145 (ill.), 146.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Forty-Third Annual Report for the Year 1921 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1921), p. 39 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, and Paintings, pt. 2, Paintings (Art Institute of Chicago, 1922), p. 69, cat. 847.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cThe Potter Palmer Collection of Paintings,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 16, 3 (May 1922), pp. 37, 38 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cAccessions and Loans,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 16, 3 (May 1922), p. 47.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1925), pp. 66 (ill.); 150, cat. 847.\n\nM. C., \u201cRenoirs in the Institute,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 19, 3 (Mar. 1925), pp. 32, 33 (ill.).\n\nAlbert Andr\u00e9, Renoir (G. Cr\u00e8s, 1928), pl. 36.\n\nFogg Art Museum, Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, exh. cat. (Harvard University Press, 1929), p. 19, no. 80; pl. 33.\n\nJulius Meier-Graefe, Renoir (Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929), pp. 29, n. 1; 56, no. 6 (ill.).\n\nForbes Watson, \u201cThe Fogg Museum Celebrates,\u201d The Arts 15, 4 (Apr. 1929), p. 226 (ill.).\n\nAlbert Franz Cochrane, \u201cFogg Museum Stages Magnificent Exhibition of French Art,\u201d Boston Evening Transcript, Mar. 9, 1929, p. 13.\n\nC. J. Bulliet, \u201cFogg Museum Joins in Fight on Fog [Pardon!],\u201d Chicago Evening Post, Apr. 16, 1929, pp. 1, 4 (ill.).\n\nJames O\u2019Donnell Bennett, \u201cA Layman Views Art Institute\u2019s Rare Paintings,\u201d Chicago Daily Tribune, June 7, 1931, p. 8.\n\nReginald Howard Wilenski, French Painting (Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931), p. 262; pl. 107.\n\nJacques-\u00c9mile Blanche, Les arts plastiques (\u00c9d. de France, 1931), p. 73.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of \u201cA Century of Progress\u201d: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture; Lent from American Collections, ed. Daniel Catton Rich, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), p. 50, cat. 351; pl. 58\/cat. 351.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cThe Century of Progress Exhibition of the Fine Arts,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27, 4 (Apr.\u2013May 1933), p. 67.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cThe Rearrangement of the Painting Galleries,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27, 7 (Dec. 1933), p. 115.\n\nJ. A., \u201cExhibitions,\u201d Bulletin of Smith College Museum of Art 14 (May 1933), pp. 13 (ill.), 16.\n\nSmith College Museum of Art, \u201cAccessions and Loans,\u201d Bulletin of Smith College Museum of Art 14 (May 1933), p. 22.\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cFranz\u00f6sische Impressionisten im Art Institute zu Chicago,\u201d Pantheon: Monatsschrift f\u00fcr Freunde und Sammler der Kunst 11, 3 (Mar. 1933), pp. 72 (ill.), 77. Translated by C. C. H. Drechsel as \u201cFrench Impressionists in the Art Institute of Chicago,\u201d Pantheon\/Cicerone (Mar. 1933) p. 18.\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cThe Exhibition of French Art, \u2018Art Institute\u2019 of Chicago,\u201d Formes 33 (1933), p. 382.\n\nClarence Joseph Bulliet, Art Masterpieces in a Century of Progress Fine Arts Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 1 (Chicago Daily News\/North-Mariano Press, 1933), no. 14 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of \u201cA Century of Progress\u201d: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934, ed. Daniel Catton Rich, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), p. 40, cat. 240.\n\nUlrich Thieme and Felix Becker, \u201cRenoir,\u201d in Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden K\u00fcnstler, vol. 28, Ramsden\u2013Rosa (Seemann, 1934), p. 169.\n\nBaltimore Museum of Art, A Survey of French Painting Exhibition, exh. cat. (Baltimore Museum of Art, 1934), pp. 11; 19, cat. 33; 47, cat. 33 (ill.).\n\nAlbert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The Art of Renoir (Minton, Balch, 1935), pp. 71; 72\u201374; 89; 188; 262, no. 99 (ill.); 451, no. 99.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections (Art Institute of Chicago, 1935), p. 28 (ill.).\n\nCarnegie Institute, A Survey of French Painting, exh. cat. (Carnegie Institute, 1936), cat. 42.\n\nCleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition, exh. cat. (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1936), pp. 115\u201316, cat. 302.\n\nClarence Joseph Bulliet, The Significant Moderns and Their Pictures (Covici, Friede, 1936), pl. 33.\n\nHenry McBride, \u201cThe Renoirs of America: An Appreciation of the Metropolitan Museum\u2019s Exhibition,\u201d Art News 35, 31 (May 1, 1937), pp. 60, 68 (ill.), 158.\n\nMetropolitan Museum of Art, Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings, exh. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art\/Bradford, 1937), p. 5; no. 15 (ill.).\n\nLionello Venturi, Les archives de l\u2019impressionnisme: Lettres de Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley et autres; M\u00e9moires de Paul Durand-Ruel; Documents, vol. 2 (Durand-Ruel, 1939), p. 337.\n\nJosephine L. Allen, \u201cPaintings by Renoir,\u201d Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 32, 5 (May 1937), p. 112.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cExhibitions,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 33, 1 (Jan. 1939), p. 15.\n\nReginald Howard Wilenski, Modern French Painters (Reynal & Hitchcook, [1940]), p. 337.\n\n\u201cChicago Art Institute,\u201d Life (Sept. 8, 1941), pp. 54 (ill.), 59 (ill.).\n\nRegina Shoolman and Charles E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America: A Survey of the Permanent Collections of Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics and Decorative Arts in American and Canadian Museums; Being an Introduction to the Masterpieces of Art from Prehistoric to Modern Times (Lippincott, 1942), p. 557; pl. 541.\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cPotter Palmer and the Art Development of the Museum,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 37, 6 (Nov. 1943), p. 84 (ill.).\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cPotter Palmer and the Painting Department,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 37, 6 (Nov. 1943), p. 86.\n\nMichel Drucker, Renoir, with a preface by Germain Bazin (P. Tisn\u00e9, 1944), pp. 55, 185, 201\u201302; pl. 56.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), p. 36.\n\n\u201cChicago Perfects Its Renoir Group,\u201d Art News 44, 16, pt. 1 (Dec. 1\u201314, 1945), p. 18 (ill.).\n\nHans Huth, \u201cImpressionism Comes to America,\u201d Gazette des beaux-arts 29 (1946), pp. 239, n. 22; 240; 241, fig. 15.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Picture Book: Masterpieces of Painting, XIX Century, in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, prepared by Helen F. Mackenzie (Art Institute of Chicago, 1946), pp. 1, 21, 22 (ill.), 23.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cNotes,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 41, 7 (Dec. 1947), p. 96.\n\nWalter Pach, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Library of Great Painters (Abrams, 1950), pp. 52\u201353 (ill.).\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cMidwest Art Capital,\u201d Town and Country 105 (Mar. 1951), pp. 72\u201373 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces in the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1952), (ill.).\n\nCharles Fabens Kelley, \u201cChicago: Record Years,\u201d Art News 51, 4 (June\u2013Aug. 1952), pp. 55 (ill.), 107.\n\nMarcelle Berr de Turique, Renoir (Phaidon, [1953]), p. 8; pl. 36.\n\nJean-Louis Vaudoyer, Renoir, Le grand art en livres de poche (Flammarion, 1953), pl. 11.\n\nDorothy Bridaham, Renoir in the Art Institute of Chicago (Conzett & Huber, 1954), pl. 3.\n\nM. K. R., \u201cAn Exhibition for Paris,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 49, 2 (Apr. 1955), p. 28.\n\nMus\u00e9e de l\u2019Orangerie, De David \u00e0 Toulouse Lautrec: Chefs-d\u2019oeuvre des collections am\u00e9ricaines, exh. cat. (Mus\u00e9e de l\u2019Orangerie, 1955), cat. 46; pl. 48.\n\nTheodore Rousseau, \u201cDe David a [sic] Toulouse-Lautrec dans les collections et mus\u00e9es Americains,\u201d Art et style 34 (1955), (ill.).\n\n\u201cLes expositions a [sic] Paris,\u201d Connaissance des arts 39 (May 15, 1955), p. 77.\n\nIshbel Ross, Silhouette in Diamonds: The Life of Mrs. Potter Palmer (Harper & Bros., 1960), p. 155.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), pp. 282 (ill.), 394.\n\nFran\u00e7ois Fosca, Renoir: L\u2019homme et son oeuvre (A. Somogy, 1961), pp. 112 (ill.), 118, 281. Translated by Mary I. Martin as Renoir, His Life and Work (Prentice-Hall, 1962), pp. 112 (ill.), 117, 269.\n\nRodolfo Pallucchini, \u201cL\u2019Art Institute di Chicago,\u201d L\u2019illustrazione del medico 33, 218 (Feb. 1966), pp. 14; 15, fig. 7.\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cGreat Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 84 (Sept. 1966), pp. 192, fig. 7; 194.\n\nCharles C. Cunningham, Instituto de arte de Chicago, El mundo de los museos 2 (Editorial Codex, 1967), p. 19.\n\nAndr\u00e9 Parinaud and Charles C. Cunningham, Art Institute of Chicago, Grands mus\u00e9es 2 (Hachette-Filipacchi, 1969), p. 11.\n\nCharles C. Cunningham and Satoshi Takahashi, Shikago bijutsukan [Art Institute of Chicago], Museums of the World 32 (Kodansha, 1970), pp. 51, pl. 37 (detail); 159\u201360 (ill.).\n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (Abrams, 1970), pp. 85\u201386 (ill.).\n\nFran\u00e7ois Daulte, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonn\u00e9 de l\u2019oeuvre peint, vol. 1, Figures, 1860\u20131890 (Durand-Ruel, 1971), pp. 228\u201329, cat. 297 (ill.).\n\nElda Fezzi, L\u2019opera completa di Renoir: Nel periodo impressionista, 1869\u20131883, Classici dell\u2019arte 59 (Rizzoli, 1972), pp. 103\u201304, cat. 333 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cLecturer\u2019s Choice,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 67, 4 (Jul.\u2013Aug. 1973), p. 11.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), pp. 38; 76\u201377, cat. 24 (ill.).\n\nCarnegie Institute, Carnegie Institute Celebration, exh. cat. (Carnegie Institute, 1975), cat. 7 (ill.).\n\nWalter Pach, Auguste Renoir: Leben und Werk, trans. Walter Pach (M. DuMont Schauberg, 1976), pp. 78\u201379; 167; fig. 5.\n\nAnthea Callen, Renoir (Oresko, 1978), p. 66, no. 46 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Art Institute of Chicago, 1978), pp. 20; 102, pl. 57.\n\nYomiuri Shimbun Sha, Exposition Renoir, exh. cat. (Isetan Museum of Art\/Kyoto Municipal Museum\/Yomiuri Shimbun Sha, 1979), (ill.).\n\nJ. Patrice Marandel, The Art Institute of Chicago: Favorite Impressionist Paintings (Crown, 1979), pp. 70\u201371 (ill.).\n\nSophie Monneret, L\u2019impressionnisme et son \u00e9poque: Dictionnaire international illustr\u00e9, vol. 2 (Deno\u00ebl, 1979), p. 175.\n\nDiane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (Abbeville, 1980), p. 269 (ill.).\n\nDiane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism, Tiny Folios (Abbeville, 1980), p. 158, pl. 18.\n\nHorst Keller, The Great Book of French Impressionism, trans. from the German by Alexis Brown (Hudson Hills, 1980), fig. 122.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Pocket Guide to the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1983), pp. 25, no. 27 (ill.); 62.\n\nBarbara Ehrlich White, Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters (Abrams, 1984), pp. 82\u201383 (ill.), 165, 192.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Seibu Museum of Art, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, and Fukuoka Art Museum, eds., Shikago bijutsukan insho-ha ten [The Impressionist tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago], trans. Akihiko Inoue, Hideo Namba, Heisaku Harada, and Yoko Maeda, exh. cat. (Nippon Television Network, 1985), pp. 16; 17; 78, cat. 33 (ill.); 79 (detail); 146, cat. 33 (ill.).\n\nJoel Isaacson, \u201cThe Painters Called Impressionists,\u201d in The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874\u20131886, ed. Charles S. Moffett, with the assistance of Ruth Berson, Barbara Lee Williams, and Fronia E. Wissman, exh. cat. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986), pp. 380; 395; 417, cat. 134 (ill.).\n\nChristopher Lloyd, \u201cThe Impact of Impressionism,\u201d in Christopher Lloyd and Richard Thomson, Impressionist Drawings from British Public and Private Collections, exh. cat. (Phaidon\/Arts Council, 1986), pp. 19; 23, fig. 24.\n\nRichard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Art Institute of Chicago\/Abrams, 1987), pp. 54 (ill.), 55, 119.\n\nNicholas Wadley, ed., Renoir: A Retrospective (Hugh Lauter Levin\/Macmillan, 1987), pp. 131; 177, pl. 63.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee (Art Institute of Chicago\/New York Graphic Society Books\/Little, Brown, 1988), pp. 8, 61 (ill.), 65.\n\nMinistry of Culture; State Hermitage Museum; Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Art Institute of Chicago, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: Shedevry frantsuzskoi zhivopisi XIX\u2013nachala XX veka, iz Muzeia Metropoliten v N\u2019iu-Iorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Masterpieces of French painting of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago], trans. from English by Iu. A. Kleiner and A. A. Zhukov, exh. cat. (Avrora, 1988), cat. 21 (ill.).\n\nRaffaele De Grada, Renoir (Giorgio Mondadori, 1989), p. 59, pl. 37.\n\nSophie Monneret, Renoir, Profils de l\u2019art (Ch\u00eane, 1989), pp. 82\u201383, fig. 4.\n\nEdward Lucie-Smith, Impressionist Women (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989), pp. 137, pl. 124; 139.\n\nEric Darragon, \u201cP\u00e9gase \u00e0 Fernando. A propos de Cirque et du r\u00e9alisme de Seurat en 1891,\u201d Revue de l\u2019art 86 (1989), p. 57, n. 68.\n\nLesley Stevenson, H. de Toulouse Lautrec (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991), p. 65.\n\nLesley Stevenson, Renoir (Bison Group, 1991), pp. 102\u201303 (ill.).\n\nCatherine Strasser, Seurat: Cirque pour un monde nouveau (Biro, 1991), p. 12, ill. 7.\n\nWilliam R. Johnston, \u201cAlfred Sisley and Early Interest in Impressionism in America, 1865\u20131913,\u201d in Alfred Sisley, ed. MaryAnne Stevens, exh. cat. (Royal Academy of Arts\/Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay\/Walters Art Gallery\/Yale University Press, 1992), p. 66.\n\nRichard Thomson, \u201cRepr\u00e9sentations de Montmartre,\u201d in Hayward Gallery and Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Toulouse-Lautrec, exh. cat. (South Bank Centre\/R\u00e9union des Mus\u00e9es Nationaux, 1992), p. 231.\n\nAnne Distel, Renoir: \u201cIl faut embellir,\u201d D\u00e9couvertes Gallimard: Peinture 177 (Gallimard\/R\u00e9union des Mus\u00e9es Nationaux, 1993), p. 59 (ill.). Translated by Lory Frankel as Renoir: A Sensuous Vision (Thames & Hudson, 1995), p. 59 (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. 75 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide, selected by James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein, entries written and compiled by Sally Ruth May (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), pp. 156 (ill.), 157.\n\nNeil Harris, Chicago\u2019s Dream, a World\u2019s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893\u20131993, with an afterword by James N. Wood, ed. Teri J. Edelstein, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), p. 32, pl. 10.\n\nGerhard Gruitrooy, Renoir: A Master of Impressionism (Todtri, 1994), pp. 82, 86\u201387 (detail), 97 (ill.).\n\nMargherita Andreotti, \u201cThe Joseph Winterbotham Collection,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 2 (1994), p. 124.\n\nFrancesca Castellani, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La vita e l\u2019opera (Mondadori, 1996), pp. 124\u201325 (ill.).\n\nRuth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874\u20131886; Documentation, vol. 1, Reviews (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/University of Washington Press, 1996), p. 387.\n\nRuth Berson, ed., The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874\u20131886; Documentation, vol. 2, Exhibited Works (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco\/University of Washington Press, 1996), pp. 212, 232 (ill.).\n\nKarin Sagner-D\u00fcchting, Renoir: Paris and the Belle \u00c9poque, trans. Fiona Elliott (Prestel, 1996), pp. 42\u201343 (ill.).\n\nDouglas W. Druick, Renoir, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago\/Abrams, 1997), pp. 2 (detail); 38\u201341; 72; 85, pl. 4; 109.\n\nColin B. Bailey, with the assistance of John B. Collins, Renoir\u2019s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Canada\/Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 28; 172\u2013174, cat. 35 (ill.); 302\u2013304, cat. 35. Translated by Danielle Chaput and Julie Desgagn\u00e9, with support from Nada Kerpan for the texts by Linda Nochlin, as Les portraits de Renoir: Impressions d\u2019une \u00e9poque, exh. cat. (Gallimard\/Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts du Canada, 1997), pp. 31; 172\u201374, cat. 35 (ill.); 302\u201304, cat. 35 (ill.).\n\nKimbell Art Museum, \u201cRenoir\u2019s Portraits: Impressions of an Age,\u201d Calendar (Aug. 1997\u2013Jan. 1998), p. 15 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago\/Hudson Hills, 1999), pp. 8, 57 (ill.).\n\nCharlotte Gere and Marina Vaizey, Great Women Collectors (Philip Wilson\/Abrams, 1999), pp. 132, 133.\n\nJanet Snyder Matthews and Linda Williams Mansperger, Mrs. Potter Palmer: Legendary Lady of Sarasota, exh. cat. (Gulf Coast Heritage Association, [1999]), pp. 8, 130.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Shikago bijutsukan [Art Institute of Chicago], Museums of the World 22 (Kodansha, 2000), pp. 8\u20139 (ill.), 25 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago\/Hudson Hills, 2000), pp. 9, 55, 57 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Treasures from the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood, with commentaries by Debra N. Mancoff (Art Institute of Chicago\/Hudson Hills, 2000), pp. 183, 206\u201307 (ill.).\n\nGilles N\u00e9ret, Renoir: Painter of Happiness, 1841\u20131919, trans. Josephine Bacon (Taschen, 2001), pp. 110\u201311 (ill.), 130.\n\nJohn Collins, \u201cMarguerite (Francisca) and Angelina Wartenberg,\u201d in Dictionary of Artist\u2019s Models, ed. Jill Berk Jiminez (Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001), pp. 557\u201360 (ill.).\n\nJohn B. Collins, \u201cSeeking l\u2019Esprit Gaulois: Renoir\u2019s Bal du Moulin de la Galette and Aspects of French Social History and Popular Culture\u201d (Ph.D. diss., McGill University, 2001), pp. 86, n. 24; 87; 174; fig. 93.\n\nEleanor Dwight, ed., The Letters of Pauline Palmer: A Great Lady of Chicago\u2019s First Family (M. T. Train\/Scala, 2005), pp. 293 (ill.), 295.\n\nSue Roe, The Private Lives of the Impressionists (Chatto & Windus, 2006), p. 262.\n\nZeev Gourarier, \u201c1874\u20131963. Fernando et Medrano: Artistes de cirque et cirque des artistes,\u201d in Picasso et le cirque, ed. Dominique Dupuis-Labb\u00e9 and Maria Teresa Oca\u00f1a, exh. cat. (Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2006), pp. 49, fig. 1; 52.\n\nHuub Beurskens, Ed Wingen, Leo Duppen, et al., Het circus in de beeldende kunst (KcH, 2006), fig. 3.\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, vol. 1, 1858\u20131881 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), pp. 292; 294, cat. 251 (ill.).\n\nAnna Green, French Paintings of Childhood and Adolescence, 1848\u20131886 (Ashgate, 2007), pp. 97; 98; pl. 5.\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. 14 (ill.); 70\u201371, cat. 26 (ill.); 129. 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 University Press, 2008), pp. 14 (ill.); 70\u201371, cat. 26 (ill.); 129.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James Cuno (Art Institute of Chicago\/Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 8, 56 (ill.), 62.\n\nAnne Distel, Renoir (Citadelles & Mazenod, 2009), pp. 165, 239.\n\nColin B. Bailey, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting, exh. cat. (Frick Collection\/Yale University Press, 2012), pp. iii (ill.); 23; 102; 124; 125 (ill.); 126\u201333; 134\u201335 (detail); 135\u201337; 224, cat. 44 (ill.).\n\nGloria Groom, \u201cSpaces of Modernity,\u201d in Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, ed. Gloria Groom, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago\/Metropolitan Museum of Art\/Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay\/Yale University Press, 2012), p. 182. Translated as \u201cLes espaces de la modernit\u00e9,\u201d in L\u2019impressionnisme et la mode, ed. Gloria Groom, exh. cat. (Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay\/Skira Flammarion, 2012), p. 52.\n\nKaren Rosenberg, \u201cSoign\u00e9 Parisians, Fit for a Grand Canvas,\u201d New York Times, Feb. 10, 2012, p. 27.\n\nNancy Ireson, \u201cNew Arenas: Degas\u2019s Legacy at the Cirque Fernando,\u201d in Linda Wolk-Simon, Degas, Miss La La, and the Cirque Fernando, with contributions by Nancy Ireson and Eveline Baseggio Omiccioli, exh. cat. (Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2013), pp. 31; 32, fig. 13.\n\n \u201cCat. 9: Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg), 1879,\u201d in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/renoir\/reader\/paintingsanddrawings\/section\/138973<\/a>.\n\nDiscover Degas and Miss La La, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery Global Limited, 2024), 32\u201333, 37, 88, 94\u201395 cat. 28 (ill.)\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 78 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Paris, Offices of La vie moderne, Cinqui\u00e8me exposition de La vie moderne, P.-A. Renoir, June 19\u2013July 3, 1879, no cat.\n\nParis, 251, rue Saint-Honor\u00e9, Salons du Panorama de Reischoffen, 7me exposition des artistes independants [seventh Impressionist exhibition], Mar. 1\u201331, 1882, no cat. no.\n\nNew York, American Art Galleries, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, Apr. 10\u201328, 1886, cat. 209; New York, National Academy of Design, May 25\u2013June 30, 1886, as Au Cirque.\n\nParis, Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, cat. 3, as Au Cirque.\n\nCambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Mar. 6\u2013Apr. 7, 1929, cat. 80 (ill.).\n\nNorthampton, Mass., Smith College Museum of Art, One Picture Exhibition, Oct. 29\u2013Nov. 29, 1932, no cat.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Children\u2019s Museum, Circus Scenes, Dec. 2\u201319, 1932, no cat.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cA Century of Progress\u201d: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, May 23\u2013Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 351 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, \u201cA Century of Progress\u201d: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture for 1934, June 1\u2013Oct. 31, 1934, cat. 240.\n\nBaltimore Museum of Art, A Survey of French Painting, Nov. 23, 1934\u2013Jan. 1, 1935, cat. 33 (ill.).\n\nPittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Survey of French Painting, Apr. 2\u2013May 14, 1936, cat. 42.\n\nCleveland Museum of Art, The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition, June 26\u2013Oct. 4, 1936, cat. 302.\n\nNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings, May 18\u2013Sept. 12, 1937, cat. 15 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, The Masterpiece of the Month: Two Little Circus Girls, by August Renoir (French, 1841\u20131919), Jan. 3\u201331, 1939, no cat.\n\nParis, Mus\u00e9e de l\u2019Orangerie, De David \u00e0 Toulouse Lautrec: Chefs-d\u2019oeuvre des collections am\u00e9ricaines, Apr. 20\u2013July 3, 1955, cat. 46 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3\u2013Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 24 (ill.).\n\nPittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Celebration: Inaugural Exhibition of the Sarah Scaife Gallery of the Museum of Art, Oct. 26, 1974\u2013Jan. 5, 1975, cat. 7 (ill.).\n\nTokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, Shikago bijutsukan insho-ha ten [The Impressionist tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago], Oct. 18\u2013Dec. 17, 1985, cat. 33 (ill.); Fukuoka Art Museum, Jan. 5\u2013Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4\u2013Apr. 13, 1986.\n\nWashington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874\u20131886, Jan. 17\u2013Apr. 6, 1986, cat. 134 (ill.); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Apr. 19\u2013July 6, 1986 (San Francisco only).\n\nLeningrad [St. Petersburg], Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: shedevry frantsuzsko\u012d zhivopici XIX-nachala XX veka, iz Muieia Metropoliten v Niu-\u012corke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great Paintings From the XIX century to the Beginning of the XXth century From Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago], March 15-May 19, 1988, cat. 21; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10-July 30, 1988.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Chicago\u2019s Dream, a World\u2019s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893\u20131993, Nov. 1, 1993\u2013Jan. 9, 1994, no cat. no.\n\nOttawa, National Gallery of Canada, Renoir\u2019s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, June 27\u2013Sept. 14, 1997, cat. 35 (ill.); Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 17, 1997\u2013Jan. 4, 1998; Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, Feb. 8\u2013Apr. 26, 1998. \n\nFort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 26 (ill.).\n\nNew York, Frick Collection, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting, Feb. 7\u2013May 13, 2012, cat. 44 (ill.).\n\nLondon, National Gallery, Discover Degas and Miss La La, June 6\u2013Sep. 1, 2024, cat. 28.","provenance_text":"The artist (d. 1919); deposited with Durand-Ruel, Paris, Apr. 6, 1881 [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1879\u201384 (no. 3155, as Les Petites acrobates), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 12, 1882, for 2,000 francs. [This transaction is recorded in the Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1880\u201382 (no. 2362, as Les Saltimbanques), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, May 11, 1892, for 8,000 francs [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1891 (no. 319, as Dans le cirque), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; by descent to his wife, Bertha Honor\u00e9 Palmer (d. 1918), Chicago; by descent their sons, Honor\u00e9 and Potter Potter; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1922,"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":46.4267,"color":{"h":42,"l":50,"s":50,"percentage":0.028888797178421657,"population":273},"latitude":41.879528576162,"longitude":-87.623390816152,"latlon":"41.879528576162,-87.623390816152","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-612","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","The City in Art","Essentials"],"term_titles":["painting","oil painting","oil paint (paint)","Impressionism","Century of Progress","public","costume","entertainment","girls","france","french","oil on canvas","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","paint","painting","painting","painting techniques","19th century","nineteenth century","painting (image making)","canvas","european painting","portraits","work","leisure","children","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","uniforms","acrobats","fruit","oranges"],"style_id":"TM-7543","style_title":"Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_ids":["TM-7543","TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_titles":["Impressionism","19th century","nineteenth century"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-14238","TM-14976","TM-66","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-14238","TM-14976","TM-66","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["painting","france","french","oil on canvas","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-12169","alt_subject_ids":["TM-14547","TM-13005","TM-8662","TM-8851","TM-8658","TM-10093","TM-10094","TM-10118","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12532","TM-12821","TM-11204","TM-12820"],"subject_ids":["TM-12169","TM-14547","TM-13005","TM-8662","TM-8851","TM-8658","TM-10093","TM-10094","TM-10118","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12532","TM-12821","TM-11204","TM-12820"],"subject_titles":["Century of Progress","public","costume","entertainment","girls","portraits","work","leisure","children","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","uniforms","acrobats","fruit","oranges"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-2577","TM-13502","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-2577","TM-13502","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","paint","painting","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting","painting techniques","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"321c45f5-22a3-84a2-44cc-cf66642d4cf2","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["d2ed5dfc-ff69-0fcb-aebe-4a69adba8901"],"sound_ids":["d2ed5dfc-ff69-0fcb-aebe-4a69adba8901"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[36743267623],"section_titles":["Cat. 9 \u00a0Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg), 1879"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.440"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)"],"weight":30304,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-02-18T09:08:32-06:00","updated_at":"2026-09-01T03:06:25-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-01T23:15:51-05:00"},"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. 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