Albert Cahen d'Anvers

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

1881

Oil on canvas, Oil, Canvas

J. Paul Getty Museum

A man with a prominent mustache sits in a chair, holding a lit cigar. He is dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt with a patterned collar. The background features a vase with red flowers and a blue floral patterned wallpaper. A man with a prominent mustache sits in a chair, holding a lit cigar. He is dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt with a patterned collar. The background features a vase with red flowers and a blue floral patterned wallpaper. Pierre-Auguste Renoir depicted the self-assured composer Albert Cahen d'Anvers, a former pupil of César Franck, nonchalantly smoking a cigarette at a friend's home. Traditionally, portraits of men were somber, but Renoir combined decorativeness with fidelity to his sitter's appearance. Facial hair was regarded as a powerful indicator of male sexuality, and Renoir shows Cahen d'Anvers's curled mustache echoin