Woman in Black

The Portrait of a Woman in Black is a small oil on canvas by Renoir kept at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Composed around 1876, it is signed A. Renoir and represents anna as a bust.

(Correction 17-11-2014: the Spanish wikipedia article indicates that this model posed for Renoir and other painters, including Manet and that the latter had it posed for Nana. However, we find in various sources (including ,) that the model of Nana de Manet was Henriette Hauser, mistress of the Prince of Orange.).

Renoir met Anna in Montmartre. She is leaning on the left side and stares at her gaze. The young woman in a bun is dressed in black, only a dark blue ribbon around the collar slices on the bodice. His wrists are hidden with lace. The discreet elegance of the young woman is underlined by her earrings, her brooch in the bun and her light makeup, a guarantee of coquetry at the time. The colors of the complexion and blue of the ribbon are taken up by the hanging of the walls.