The Apple Seller

In the late 1880s Renoir turned away from the broken touch of high Impressionism toward a more structured, classical manner, and this market figure of about 1890 belongs to that reinvention. The subject of a young seller with her wares reflects his renewed interest in firm composition and monumental form, a direction he pursued after his travels in Italy and his study of Raphael and the fresco tradition. It marks the moment his late, sculptural style was taking shape.