The will of chance, providence and Renoir, which might not have happened (8 photos)

A bright representative of impressionism and a master of secular portraiture is known even to people far from art. But the world might not have recognized Pierre Auguste Renoir if not for his responsiveness.





During the short Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Prussia won. The signing of the peace treaty resulted in the creation of a new government - the Third French Republic. Progressive-minded Parisians, compared to residents of other regions, feared that everything would return to normal. And a monarchy will reign in the country again.



Members of the government felt that revolutionary sentiments were about to explode society. To suppress the unrest in the capital, the authorities brought in additional forces. And clashes began between the spontaneously created Parisian revolutionary society and the National Guard.

Pierre Auguste Renoir

The uprising was suppressed on May 28, 1871. And one of the accidental victims almost became Pierre Auguste Renoir. On a wonderful spring day, the painter climbed onto the banks of the Seine with an easel and began doing what he loved most in life - painting.



Rise of the Paris Commune

The artist was noticed by the guards, who believed that he was a spy whose goal was not just to capture the landscape, but also to convey to the rebels the strategic location of the troops.



"Landscape at Estaque" by Renoir

An accidental witness to the arrest added fuel to the fire: the old woman shouted that there was no need to stand on ceremony with the spy, he should be immediately thrown into the Seine and drowned like a dog.

Fortunately, the guards did not heed the advice of the Parisian woman and took the confused Renoir to the nearest town hall to quietly shoot him away from prying eyes. The unfortunate Renoir, who was barely 30 years old, said goodbye to life. It seems that not even a miracle could have saved him.



Raoul Rigaud

But a miracle happened. And it appeared in the person of the authoritative revolutionary Raoul Rigaud, who headed the local branch of the National Guard. A few years earlier, Rigo was hiding from the Imperial police. And he was scouring near his forest refuge of Fontainebleau in search of something to eat, where he came across a young artist with an easel. Raoul took the risk of trusting him. And Renoir was imbued with the story of the fugitive, gave him a robe and an easel so that random passers-by would recognize him only as a harmless artist, and hid Rigo for several weeks and took care of him.



Renoir in old age

Rigo recognized his savior in the prisoner who had resigned himself to the inevitable and ordered his release, repaying the old debt. The drama La Tosca, which later served as the basis for the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, is believed to be based on this event.



Painting "Renoir Family"

Raoul himself died after a battle on the barricades of the Latin Quarter a month after the events described. And Renoir died at the respectable age of 78, having given the world many masterpieces and becoming one of the most famous painters in France and the world.

Have you ever unexpectedly repaid similar debts years later?