Child with a Biscuit (Jean Renoir)

Child with a Biscuit (Jean Renoir) by Pierre Auguste Renoir captures an intimate portrait of domestic life near the turn of the century. Created between 1898 and 1899, this work is a sensitive depiction of the artist’s youngest son, Jean Renoir, who would later become a renowned filmmaker. Unlike Renoir’s better-known Impressionist canvases, this piece is classified as a print, demonstrating the French master’s persistent engagement with various reproducible media during his later career.

The print is a refined lithograph rendered in black ink upon cream laid paper. Renoir entrusted the printing process to Auguste Clot, a highly respected printer in France known for his collaborations with many leading Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. The medium allows for a subtle, velvety shading and a directness of line that mimics drawing, effectively conveying the child’s soft features and contemplative pose as he holds the titular biscuit. This technical approach underscores Renoir’s continuous exploration of form and light, even within the constraints of monochromatic prints.

By the late 1890s, Renoir frequently used his family as subjects, lending his later output a tender, personal quality reflective of Belle Époque culture in France. As a high-quality example of fin-de-siècle printmaking featuring the subject of Child with a Biscuit (Jean Renoir), this impression resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As the image has entered the public domain, this significant work remains a popular subject for study, illustrating Renoir’s enduring influence through various forms beyond his seminal paintings.