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Pierre-Auguste Renoir
French, 1841-1919
Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg), 1879
Oil on canvas
51 3/4 x 39 1/8 in. (131.5 x 99.5 cm)
Inscribed at lower left: Renoir
Potter Palmer Collection, 1922.440
One of four permanent circuses in Paris, the Cirque Fernando opened in Montmartre in 1875, attracting an enthusiastic following that included members of the Impressionist circle. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting features Francisca Wartenberg (left) and her sister, Angelina (right), members of an itinerant German acrobatic troupe. Ages 17 and 14, respectively, the girls take their bows after a performance, gathering up the tissue-wrapped oranges tossed to them as tributes by members of the audience.
— Permanent collection label
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
Paris, Offices of La Vie Moderne, Renoir, June 19, 1879.
Paris, 7me Exposition des Impressionnistes, 1882.
New York, National Academy of Design, Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris, 1886, cat. 209.
Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, cat. 3.
Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, March 6-April 6, 1929, cat. 80, pl. 33.
Northampton, Mass., Smith College, Museum of Art, One Picture Exhibition, Winter 1932-1933, no cat.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 351, pl. 58.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 204.
Baltimore, Maryland, Museum of Art, A Survey of French Painting, November 1934-January 1935, cat. 33 (ill.).
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, A Survey of French Painting, April-May 1936, cat. 42.
Cleveland Museum of Art, The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition, June–October, 1936, cat. 302.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings, May-September, 1937, cat. 15 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Masterpiece of the Month, January 1939, no cat.
Paris, Musée de L’Orangerie, De David a Toulouse Lautrec, Chefs d’Oeuvres des Collections Americanes, April-July, 1955, cat. 46 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, February 3-April 1, 1973, cat. 24 (ill.).
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Carnegie Institute Celebration, October 25, 1974-January 5, 1975.
Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art, The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, January 17-April 6, 1986, cat. 134, (ill.), traveled to San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, April 19-July 6, 1986.
Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, October 18-December 17, 1986, cat. 33, (ill.), traveled to Fukuoka Art Museum, January 5-February 2, 1986 and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, March 4-April 13, 1986.
Leningrad, Hermitage and Moscow, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, From Delacroix to Matisse: Great French Paintings From the XIX Century to the Beginning of the XXth Century from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago, 1988, cat. 16 (ill).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Dream a World’s Treasure, November 1, 1993-January 9, 1994, no cat. no., pl. 10.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, June 27, 1997–September 14, 1997, cat. 35 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, October 17, 1997–January 4, 1998 and Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, February 8–April 26, 1998.
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 26 (ill.).
New York, The Frick Collection, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting, February 7–May 13, 2012, pp. 124–137, p. 125 (ill.).
Publication History
Edmond Renoir in La Vie Moderne 11 (June 19, 1879).
Fichtre, “L’Actualité: L’Exposition des peintres independents,” Le Réveil (March 2, 1882), p. 1.
G. Riviére, Renoir et Ses Amis, (1921), pp. 145 (ill.), 146.
“The Potter Palmer Collection of Paintings,” The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 16, (1922), pp. 37, 38 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection, (Chicago, 1925), p. 66 (ill.).
M.C., “Renoirs in the Art Institute,” The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 19, 3 (1925), pp. 32, 33, (ill.).
Ambroise Vollard, Renoir: An Intimate Record (New York, 1925), p. 237.
Albert André, Renoir (Paris, 1928), pl. 36, (ill.).
Julius Meier-Graefe, Renior (Leipzig, 1929), p. 56, fig. 6.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook of Sculpture, Architecture, Paintings and Drawings (1932), pp. 63, (ill.), 168.
Bulletin of Smith College Museum of Art 14 (May 1933), pp. 13 (ill.), 16.
D.C. Rich, “Französiche Impressionisten im Art Institute zu Chicago,” Pantheon 11 (March, 1933), p. 77 (ill. opposite p. 73).
Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The Art of Renoir (New York, 1935), pp.71, 72, 73, 74, 89, 262, (ill.), 451, no. 99.
H. McBride, “The Renoirs in America; An Appreciation of the Metropolitan Museum’s Exhibition,” Art News 35, 2 (May 1, 1937), pp. 60, 68, (ill.).
Lionello Venturi, Les Archives de l’Impressionisme vol. 2 (Paris and New York, 1939), p. 337.
R.H. Wilenski, Modern French Painters (New York, 1940), p. 337.
Life Magazine (1941), p. 213, (ill.).
R. Shoolman and C.E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America (Philadelphia, 1942), pl. 541.
“Potter Palmer and the Art Development of the Museum,” The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 37 (November 1943), p. 84 (ill.).
M. Drucker, Renoir (Paris, 1944), pl. 56, (ill.), pp. 185, 201, (no. 56).
“Chicago Perfects Its Renoir Group,” Art News 44 (December 1, 1945), p. 18, (ill.).
Hans Huth, “Impressionism Comes to America,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, 29 (1946), pp. 240, 241, fig. 15.
W. Pach, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1950), pp. 52, 53, (ill.).
D.C. Rich, “Midwest Art Capitol,” Town and Country (March, 1951), pp. 72-76, 135-137, 73 (ill.).
C.K. Kelley and Charles Fabens, “Chicago: Record Years,” Art News 51, 4 (June-August, 1952), pp. 52-65, ill. p. 55, 106-111, 107.
“De David a Toulouse Lautrec dans les Collections et Musees Americains, Ora gerie Exhibition,” Art et Style34 (1955), ill.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 34.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 394-395, 282 (ill.).
Rodolfo Pallucchini, “L’Art Institute di Chicago,” L’Illustrazione del Medico 33, 218 (February 1966), pp. 9-16, 14, fig. 7.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (September, 1966), pp. 194-195, 192 (ill. fig. 7).
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), pp. 85 (ill), 285.
François Daulte, Auguste Renoir: Catalogue raisonné, vol. 1 (Lausanne, 1971), no. 297 (ill.).
Walet Pach, Auguste Renoir: Leben und Work (Cologne, 1976), pp.78-79, 167, fig. 5.
Anthea Callen, Renoir (London, 1978), p. 66, no. 46.
The Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), no. 57.
Exposition Renoir, exh. cat. (Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art and Kyoto Municipal Museum, 1979), ill.
Diane Kelder, The Great Book of Impressionism (New York, 1980), p. 269 (ill.).
Elda Fezzi, Tout l’Oeuvre Peint de Renoir (Paris, 1985), no. 324 (ill.).
Nicholas Wadley, ed., Renoir: A Retrospective (New York, 1987), ill.
James N. Wood and Katherine C. Lee, Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), ill.
Sophie Monneret, Renoir (Paris, 1989), pp. 82-83, fig. 4.
Edward Lucie Smith, Impressionist Women (London, 1989), pp. 137, 139, pl. 124.
Lesley Stevenson, H. de Toulouse Lautrec (London, 1991), p. 65.
Lesley Stevenson, Renoir (London, 1991), p. 102 (ill.).
Anne Distel, Renoir ‘Il faut embellir’ (Paris, 1993), p. 59 (ill.).
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 26, pp. 70-71 (ill.).
Colin B. Bailey, “Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg),” Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press and The Frick Collection, 2012. p. 124, p. 126, p. 128-130, p. 132, fig. 44.
Colin B. Bailey, “An Impressionist Painting Large: Renoir, Exhibitions, and the Full-Length Format, 1893-1885,” Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press and The Frick Collection, 2012. p. 23, fig. 44.
Ownership History
Deposited by the artist with Durand-Ruel, Paris on April 7, 1881; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York on May 12, 1882 for 2, 000 francs [according to Ottawa 1997]; sold to Mrs. Potter Palmer (died 1918), Chicago on May 11, 1892 for 8,000 francs [Durand-Ruel stock no. 319, information kindly provided by Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, 1995]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1922.