Pierre-Auguste Renoir

In this painting, Renoir depicts Alexander Thurneyssen-the 12-year-old son of a wealthy German industrialist patron-as a young shepherd reclining in a field of flowers. Both the figure and landscape are rendered in a luxuriant, rosy palette using fluid strokes applied in thin layers. Thurneyssen’s languid pose, loosely adapted from that of the Greek god Dionysus on the Parthenon frieze, indicates Renoir’s fascination with classical sculpture. As such, the work departs from the emphasis on modern everyday life typically found in Impressionist painting, and anticipates the return to ancient styles and forms in the work of other modern artists in the early 1900s.