The artwork, which depicts Pierre-Auguste Renoir's son Jean playing with his nanny, was painted in the 1890s and completed sometime before 1910, and was virtually unknown to the wider public for more than a century.
DrouotL’enfant et ses jouets—Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean (The Child and His Toys—Gabrielle and the Artist’s Son, Jean), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
A rediscovered Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting was exhibited for the first time in November 2025, later selling for $2 million at auction.
The painting, L’enfant et ses jouets—Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean (The Child and His Toys—Gabrielle and the Artist’s Son, Jean), depicts Renoir’s young son Jean playing with toys alongside his nanny, Gabrielle Renard. The oil painting spent decades in private hands before going to auction, and the artwork was virtually unknown to the wider public for over a century.
The previously unseen artwork sold to an unnamed “international buyer” at Joron-Derem’s Tableaux Modernes sale at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Rediscovered Painting Was In Remarkable Condition
Wikimedia CommonsPierre-Auguste Renoir, pictured in 1910.
Despite its age and its recent rediscovery, L’enfant et ses jouets—Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean (The Child and His Toys—Gabrielle and the Artist’s Son, Jean) required no restoration before it went up for auction.
“We were particularly surprised by how fresh the painting was,” art historian and Renoir expert Pascal Perrin told PBS. “In other words, it is a painting that has retained all of its colors perfectly, which has not been re-canvassed, retouched, or revarnished.”
The artwork was painted sometime in the 1890s and completed before 1910. It features a heartwarming scene between the artist’s second son, Jean Renoir, and his nanny, Gabrielle Renard, as they play with toys together. The painting shows the pair’s close relationship, as she was apparently able to keep the young child content for long enough to pose for the painting.
“It is exceptional because, first of all, it is a masterclass of intimacy. We see this very tender relationship between Jean and Gabrielle, who knows how to control the child so that Renoir can paint him,” auctioneer Christophe Joron-Derem explained.
After the painting was completed, Pierre-Auguste Renoir gave it to Jeanne Baudot, a close family friend and student of Renoir’s (who was also Jean’s godmother). She later passed the artwork down to her son Jean Griot. Griot displayed the piece in his bedroom until his death in 2011.
A Story Beyond Renoir’s Rarely-Seen Painting
Wikimedia CommonsThe child in the painting, Jean Renoir, went on to become a successful filmmaker.
Gabrielle Renard played an important role in young Jean Renoir’s life, taking him to Guignol puppet shows in Montmartre. The boy would later grow up to become a respected filmmaker, and he specifically cited those puppet shows as being particularly influential to his early artistry.
Jean Renoir made a number of impressive movies throughout his career, and his film La Grande Illusion (1937) was the first foreign-language movie to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He later earned a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975.
Through it all, the filmmaker never forgot the heartwarming experience of being painted by his father when he was younger.
“When I was very small, three, four, or five years old, he didn’t choose the pose himself, but took advantage of some activity that seemed to keep me quiet,” Jean Renoir recalled before his death in 1979.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s strong familiarity with some of his subjects had an incredible impact on his work. Indeed, the close relationships between the subjects and the artist come through in the rediscovered painting.
“Time truly stands still: you can see that Jean is truly enjoying himself, and the painter is enjoying painting him,” Pascal Perrin told Artnet.
Though the newly rediscovered painting is valuable, it’s certainly not the most expensive of Renoir’s works to sell at auction. That title goes to his Au Moulin de la Galette, which sold for $78.1 million in 1990. More recently, another one of his works exceeded price estimations, with Renoir’s Berthe Morisot et sa fille, Julie Manet selling for $24.5 million in 2022.
Next, read about the painting found in a Connecticut barn that sold at auction for $7 million. Then, learn about the Gustav Klimt portrait of Elisabeth Lederer that recently became the second most expensive painting to ever sell at auction.
