In this article
WHO IS WHO
Start with the people
The Phillips Collection identifies Aline Charigot, Renoir’s future wife, with the dog. It places Gustave Caillebotte across the table from her, sitting backwards on a chair. [1] Nathalia Brodskaya also identifies Aline in a biographical passage. [2]
Find the dog-holder at the lower left, then the seated man across the table in the whole picture. Follow the woman’s face towards the dog, then compare the direction of the seated man’s head across the table.
The museum identifies Alphonse Fournaise Jr. leaning on the railing, and describes the woman thought to be Alphonsine Fournaise resting on it. [1] Look at the standing man on the left and the woman further back along the railing.
A key to the museum’s identifications
The museum says most of the models have been identified. [1] Use these labels beside the whole picture. The positions are visual locators; the names follow the museum’s account. Some figures have no label in this key.
| Key | Where to look | Museum identification |
|---|---|---|
| A | Lower-left woman holding the dog | Aline Charigot |
| B | Large standing man at the left railing | Alphonse Fournaise Jr. |
| C | Woman leaning on her elbows at the railing, further back | Thought to be Alphonsine Fournaise |
| D | Central seated man with his back towards you | Baron Raoul Barbier |
| E | Woman lifting a glass near the middle-right | Ellen Andrée |
| F | Two men behind the woman drinking, one wearing a top hat | Charles Ephrussi is the top-hatted man; the museum names Jules Laforgue, Ephrussi’s personal secretary |
| G | Right foreground, around the man seated backwards | Gustave Caillebotte sits backwards; Angèle turns towards the standing Maggiolo |
| H | Group at the upper right | The museum names Eugène Pierre Lestringuez, Jeanne Samary and Paul Lhote in this group |
The museum’s account supplies these names and grouping descriptions. [1] The upper-right label identifies a group rather than assigning each person a separate hotspot.
FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION
Look across the table
In their discussion of the painting, Steven Zucker reads leaning bodies in terms of weight and counterweight. [3] Beth Harris follows glances linking people across the table. [3] Use those readings as routes through the whole scene.
Start at the left railing and follow its diagonal towards the centre. Then follow the folds and edge of the white tablecloth towards the seated man at the right. Compare the two routes: each crosses an arrangement of figures rather than isolating a single face.
Now look at the woman lifting a glass near the middle-right. Return to the upper-right group, where faces and shoulders overlap. Can you follow a gaze without losing the person it belongs to? Keep the complete image beside a detail so that a crop does not turn an apparent exchange into an established relationship.
BEHIND THE GATHERING
A casual scene with a revised composition
The Phillips Collection’s technical study describes groups of two or three within the composition and reports revisions found through examination of the painting. [4] Those findings offer another way to consider the gathering: its appearance of sociability can be compared with the work of arranging and revising the scene.
The technical study does not establish that everyone posed together. [4] The museum’s study says it is unknown how many people posed at one sitting; posing in groups or individually is an assumption. [4] A photograph of the finished painting cannot settle that question.
The study also reports no known preparatory drawings and little underdrawing apparent in the infrared image. [4]
The study reports textured brushstrokes beneath the final paint visible under raking light. [4] It says X-radiographic and infrared images reveal earlier states of sitters and other alterations. Under a microscope, different colours in underlying layers are visible inside drying cracks. [4]
Return to the whole painting after reading the study. Look again at the groups and the spaces between them. The museum’s examination supplies evidence of revisions; these looking prompts help you inspect the final arrangement without presenting ordinary photographic details as X-ray evidence.
A SECOND TABLE SCENE
A different painting from 1875
The Art Institute of Chicago holds Renoir’s Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Rowers’ Lunch), dated 1875. Its record lists oil on canvas, a listed dimension pair of 55 × 65.9 cm, and reference number 1922.437. [5]
Open the Chicago painting’s record. The Chicago work is a separate canvas.
Thomas Stevens contrasts the earlier painting’s airy and relaxed brushwork with what he describes as the more classical treatment of Luncheon of the Boating Party. [6]
In his account of Luncheon, Stevens describes overlapping figures as creating a natural-looking composition. [6] He also interprets the stronger colours in Aline’s hat and dress and their more muted repetition in the background figures’ clothing as emphasising depth. [6]
Follow the table into the space beyond
Find the central figure whose back faces you in each whole painting. In the 1875 picture, look from the central seated figure towards the opening in the lattice and the boats on the river above that figure. In Luncheon of the Boating Party, follow the table towards the clustered figures, railing and foliage. How does each arrangement direct your attention between the gathering and the space outside it?
Common questions
-
Who are the people in Luncheon of the Boating Party?
The Phillips Collection identifies selected sitters, including Aline Charigot, Gustave Caillebotte and Alphonse Fournaise Jr. Its description qualifies the woman thought to be Alphonsine Fournaise. [1] Use the sitter key with those differences in certainty intact.
-
Did everyone pose together?
The technical study says the number posing at one sitting is unknown. It treats posing in groups or individually as an assumption. [4] The finished gathering is not evidence of one shared sitting.
-
Did Renoir make preparatory drawings?
The museum’s study reports no known preparatory drawings and little underdrawing apparent in the infrared image. [4]
-
Where is the painting?
It belongs to The Phillips Collection, whose object record is numbered 1637. [1] Check that record for current visitor information.
This painting is available as a print. View the print →