Mlle Charlotte Berthier

Auguste Renoir

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a floral-print dress holds a black lap dog in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she gently smiles as she looks slightly down in that direction with blue eyes. She has a round face, rosy, smooth cheeks, pale pink lips, and a double chin. Her brown hair is mostly covered by a hat with a brown brim and pale yellow crown. A bloom of white feathers nestles at the top front of the hat. Her dress is pale pink with a floral pattern painted with dabs of yellow, red, blue, and green. A burgundy-red bow is tied around her neck and lies limply down her chest. The woman wears gold bracelets over pale olive-green gloves that stretch almost to her elbows. Her fingers are interlaced as she holds the shaggy black dog in her lap. The dog’s front paws rest over the woman’s right forearm, to our left. A table in the background to the right holds a wide-mouthed, lapis-blue vase painted with a yellow and orange bird and white flowers. The vase holds at least a dozen pink, red, and white flowers and greenery. The background is painted with strokes of turquoise and mint green. Some brushstrokes are visible, as in the flowers and the woman’s dress, and some brushstrokes are blended, as in the woman’s face. The artist signed the painting near the bottom right corner, “Renoir 83.”