c. 1917-1918

Bather

French, 1841 - 1919

Here Renoir combines two themes close to his heart: the goddess Venus holding the golden apple and the bather modeled on ancient types. This canvas was bought around 1918 by Walter and Louise Arensberg, whose important collection of art by Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, Giorgio de Chirico, and others is the cornerstone of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's modern art holdings. In the Arensbergs' New York apartment, this small painting by Renoir hung below Marcel Duchamp's 1916 Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 3).