Fire, Little Blacksmith or Little Shepherd

Auguste Renoir

1914

Fire

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

A bronze sculpture depicts a young person crouching and working on a small object. The sculpture is mounted on a green and black veined marble base. A bronze sculpture depicts a young person crouching and working on a small object. The sculpture is mounted on a green and black veined marble base. Without referring to past works by the painter, Renoir and Guino conceived two nudes sculpted along the theme of the elements: pendants representing water and fire. The popular yet timeless figures, recognized for their respective attributes, are treated with all the naturalism of a study from nature: Water with the features of a laundress rinsing out her laundry, and Fire, here, personified by a blacksmith, a simple tradesman before his brazier. The blacksmith is seated on a flat stone