Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children

A publisher’s wife and children

Marguerite Charpentier was the wife of Georges Charpentier, an important Paris publisher of writers such as Zola, and she hosted a well-known salon. In 1878 she commissioned Renoir to paint her with her two children in their drawing room.

The painting was a success at the Salon of 1879 and helped Renoir’s career. It belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

A fashionable hostess

Madame Charpentier sits on a sofa in a black gown with white lace, relaxed and elegant. Her face is calm and attentive.

Two children in matching blue

Her children, Georgette and Paul, wear identical blue and white dresses, as small boys often did at the time. Georgette sits on the family’s large dog.

The black and white Newfoundland lies patiently on the carpet.

A Japanese-style drawing room

Behind them, a table with flowers and fruit and Japanese-style screens show the fashionable taste of the household. Renoir painted the room in warm reds and golds.

Questions about Madame Charpentier and Her Children

Who was Madame Charpentier?

The wife of the publisher Georges Charpentier and a prominent salon hostess.

Who are the children?

Georgette and Paul, dressed alike, as was common for young children.

Where is it?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

When was it painted?

In 1878, shown at the Salon of 1879.

Sources and image credit

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children
• Wikimedia Commons: Madame Charpentier and Her Children (Met)

Public-domain reproduction of Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children (1878), via Wikimedia Commons (Met Open Access). Detail images are crops of the same image; no reconstruction or upscaling.