French frankness and French tenderness and family feeling without a
trace of its wonted grimness and insincerity.

Renoir is as French as French can be, and he knows it:

Lorsque je regarde les maîtres anciens je me fais l'effet d'un bien
petit bonhomme, et pourtant je crois que de tous mes ouvrages il
restera assez pour m'assurer une place dans l'école française, cette
école que j'aime tant, qui est si gentille, si claire, de si bonne
compagnie... Et pas tapageuse.

Renoir will have his place in that school, but another niche has been
prepared for him amongst an even grander company. When, in 1917, _Les
Parapluies_ (a beautiful but not very characteristic work) was placed in
the National Gallery some hundred English artists and amateurs seized
the opportunity of sending the master a testimony of their admiration
which, rather to their surprise and to their intense joy, apparently
gave pleasure. In this they said:

Dès l'instant où votre tableau s'est trouvé installé parmi les
chefs-d'oeuvre des maîtres anciens, nous avons eu la joie de
constater qu'un de nos contemporains avait pris place d'emblée parmi
les grands maîtres de la tradition européenne.

They said not a word too much.



TRADITION & MOVEMENTS