Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)

1879

The two girls in this painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, acrobats who performed in the famed Cirque Fernando in Paris. They are depicted clutching oranges tossed to them from the crowd as gifts. Although they are painted standing in the center of a circus ring, Renoir actually painted them in his studio, where he could take full advantage of natural sunlight.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Date

1879

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

131.2 × 99.2 cm (51 1/2 × 39 1/16 in.); Framed: 160.1 × 129 × 10.2 cm (63 × 50 3/4 × 4 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Potter Palmer Collection