This picture is a replica of the portrait housed at the Comédie-Française. At first sight, it may look like a sketch for a portrait, but in fact, it is Renoir's most accomplished work. Here are the quintessential features of Impressionism—an emotional state of the model, a fleeting moment halted by the artist's brush and paints. Anything more, and the mystery would be destroyed, and Mademoiselle Samary would turn into an actress playing soubrettes at the Comédie-Française.

Inscriptions: Signed and dated, upper left: Renoir. 77

Accession Number: Ж-3405

Provenance:

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (formerly, in I. Morozov's collection)