by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 2, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Several small ideas share one sheet: a seated nude in the centre, quick graphite outlines nearby, heads at the right, and patches of watercolour elsewhere. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Sheet of Studies belongs to the Musée d'Orsay and is kept in the Louvre's Department of Prints and Drawings, inventory RF 28657, recto. Orsay dates it c. 1885–86. It is a drawing on beige paper, 32.5 × 49.5 cm, combining graphite, pen and black ink, and watercolour. Musée d'Orsay object record [1]; Louvre collection record. [2]
The sheet rewards a different way of looking from a finished canvas. Its separate images are not mistakes to be read in one order. They show Renoir using the available paper to test figures, heads and colour. The Morgan Library & Museum's exhibition label connects the central seated figure, and a graphite echo of it at the right, with work towards the reclining bather in The Great Bathers. That is a specific scholarly link; not every mark on the page needs to be assigned to the final Philadelphia painting. Morgan, Renoir Drawings large-print labels [3]; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Great Bathers. [4]
At a glance
- ArtistPierre-Auguste Renoir
- Owner titleFeuille d'études (Sheet of Studies)
- Datec. 1885–86, according to Musée d'Orsay
- MaterialsGraphite, pen and black ink, watercolour on beige paper
- Size32.5 × 49.5 cm
- CollectionMusée d'Orsay; held in the Louvre's Department of Prints and Drawings
- InventoryRF 28657, recto
Watch: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Explore a Montmartre dance, a gathering beside the Seine and the drawings behind Renoir’s paintings.
Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette
Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker discuss Renoir’s 1876 Montmartre dance scene, its light and its crowds.
Watch on YouTubeMany studies on one piece of paper
The middle figure is the easiest point of entry. A woman rests her weight on one hand while the body turns and the legs gather close. White and warm colour describe more of her form than the faint drawing to the right. The Morgan identifies that right-hand graphite figure as an echo of the central study. Comparing them lets us see a thought worked in two different degrees of finish, rather than two unrelated women placed side by side. Morgan exhibition labels. [3]
Other parts of the page move in different directions. At upper left, small heads and bodies are picked out in pale blue and yellow; lower down, brushy blocks of colour suggest landscape or cloth without fully describing a setting. On the right are heads made more decisively with pen and ink. The Louvre catalogues a combination of drawing and watercolour rather than treating the sheet as a single-media sketch. The variety is visible even in a modest reproduction, though fine graphite lines and paper texture require a larger study image. Louvre object record [2]; Musée d'Orsay object record. [1]
This layout is not a narrative sequence. Renoir could revisit a pose or exploit a spare area of paper while working on a different problem. The page does not tell us the chronological order in which every study was made. It does show the coexistence of line, washes and more fully modelled passages. The signature recorded at the lower right belongs to the object, but it does not supply a precise day or location for its making. Louvre record [2]; Orsay record. [1]
Connections with The Great Bathers
The Morgan's 2025–26 exhibition placed the sheet within Renoir's preparation for The Great Bathers. Its label says the central vignette relates to the reclining bather at the left of the finished painting. It also identifies a nude study of Aline Charigot wearing a straw hat among the group of heads on the right. Those identifications come from the exhibition's curatorial research, not from names written visibly beside the sketches. Morgan exhibition labels. [3]
Renoir made many studies for the large canvas. The Morgan quotes an August 1886 letter to his dealer, written from La Chapelle-Saint-Briac, about making drawings and watercolours for later use. Its label cautiously suggests this sheet might have resulted from that summer work. That is a possibility, not a documented place and day for RF 28657. Orsay's c. 1885–86 date keeps the sheet in the wider period of preparation. Morgan exhibition labels [3]; Orsay object record. [1]
The Louvre's shorter notice also links several studies on the sheet to bathers in the Blanche collection. It does not make every head or colour patch into a proven study for the Philadelphia picture. The useful comparison is a precise one: look at the seated figure's supporting hand and legs here, then at the finished arrangement of bodies in Great Bathers. A study can share a motif while the final canvas changes its surroundings and proportions. Louvre object record [2]; Philadelphia Museum of Art object record. [4]
Ownership and a double museum address
This sheet has a collection history more detailed than its plain title suggests. Orsay records it with Claude Roger-Marx until 1914, then at the 1914 Roger-Marx sale, where Bernheim-Jeune acquired it. It later belonged to Jean-Arthur Fontaine. At Fontaine's December 1936 sale, the Société des Amis du Louvre bought the drawing, with a contribution from Dr Charpentier; Orsay records the state's acceptance of the gift in 1937. Musée d'Orsay provenance. [1]
The Louvre notice simplifies part of that history and lists a 1936 acquisition date, reflecting the society's purchase year. Orsay's fuller administrative sequence explains why a reader may also encounter 1937, the formal gift and state acceptance. Neither date should be treated as the drawing's creation date. The present attribution to Orsay and the physical holding in the Louvre's graphic-arts department are both recorded by the institutions; they are different aspects of the same object's museum status. Louvre collection record [2]; Musée d'Orsay provenance. [1]
The Morgan exhibited RF 28657 in its Renoir Drawings show of 2025–26, and Orsay's exhibition history records the same loan. The work is normally a drawing held in a study collection, not a painting permanently hung in a public gallery. Display arrangements change, so the museum records should be checked before planning a visit. Morgan exhibition page [5]; Orsay exhibition history. [1]
Looking again
Start with the figure at the centre, compare its pose with the faint outline at right, and then move to the ink heads. The sheet makes Renoir's choices visible in miniature: one idea receives more colour, another remains a line, and several sit together without being forced into a finished composition.
Renoir artworks directory
Questions about Sheet of Studies
It belongs to the Musée d'Orsay, with inventory RF 28657, and is held in the Louvre's Department of Prints and Drawings.
Orsay dates it circa 1885–86. A Morgan exhibition label connects it cautiously with Renoir's 1886 drawing campaign but does not claim a precise date.
The Morgan identifies the central seated nude and its graphite echo with the reclining bather in the finished painting. It does not assign every mark on the sheet to that canvas.
The Friends of the Louvre bought the sheet in 1936; the state accepted their gift in 1937, according to Orsay's fuller provenance.
Discussion
What do you notice when you return to Sheet of Studies?
Where can you see Renoir returning to a pose in both coloured and graphite studies?
Reader Insights
Where can you see Renoir returning to a pose in both coloured and graphite studies?
Orsay owns RF 28657, held at the Louvre; the Morgan links some figures to Great Bathers.
Which parts of the page remain separate experiments rather than proven final-canvas studies?
Join the Conversation
Share a close observation or a source-backed question about Renoir’s Sheet of Studies.
References
- Musée d'Orsay, Feuille d'études, RF 28657. Current date, materials, dimensions, provenance and museum status View source.
- Louvre collections, Feuille d'études, RF 28657 recto. Graphic-arts inventory, signature, holdings and relationship to bathers studies View source.
- Morgan Library & Museum, Renoir Drawings labels. Specific identification of the seated bather, Aline's head study and qualified 1886 context View source.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Great Bathers. Finished painting used for comparison View source.
- Morgan exhibition page View source.
- Page image: inherited site reproduction of Feuille d’études, RF 28657.
