Pierre-Auguste Renoir's early works had been typically…

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's early works had been typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light.

Now forty-five, he has broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women, as can be seen in his oils Scéne de Jardin en Bretagne (1886, The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania), Mother Nursing Her Child (Aline and Pierre); 1886; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida), and Young Girl Reading (1886; Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt).