The drawing had once belonged to Mr George Prins, a former owner of I. Hennigs & Co., and had passed to his son Vivien upon his death in the late 1960s. It was then bequeathed to the company by Vivien who died in the 1980s and it has remained in the vault ever since.
Thought to be the sole result of Renoir’s collaboration with Zola, the drawing depicts Nana, a character from Zola’s 20-volume work Les Rougon-Macquart: histoire naturelle et sociale d’une famille sous le Second Empire, with six of her friends. It will be sold in London on February 3 at Bonhams’ sale of Impressionist and Modern Art with an estimate of £30,000-50,000.
Lost Renoir sketch discovered in vault
A watercolour drawing by Renoir and inscribed by Emile Zola has been discovered by Bonhams in the vault of London diamond merchants I. Hennig & Co. The c.1877 drawing had been lost for almost 20 years and is thought to be one of the few recorded works by Renoir intended for book illustration.
