Renoir's Jewish Patrons and the Shadows of Antisemitism

Catherine Ostler's new book "The Renoir Girls: A Hidden History of Art, War & Betrayal" traces the lives of the Cahen d'Anvers sisters—Irène, Alice, and Elisabeth—who were painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in iconic portraits like "Little Irène" and "Pink and Blue." The sisters were daughters of a prominent Jewish banking dynasty that supported Renoir and other Impressionists. Ostler's research, sparked by a meeting with Princess Priscilla Bibesco (Marcel Proust's goddaughter and daughter of Prince Antoine Bibesco), reveals how the family's Belle Époque glamour was undercut by pervasive antisemitism. During the Dreyfus affair, the Cahen d'Anvers demonstrated loyalty to France by restoring the Château de Champs-sur-Marne. Later, many family members perished in the Holocaust: Elisabeth was murdered at Auschwitz; Irène's daughter Béatrice, son-in-law Léon Reinach, and grandchildren Fanny and Bertrand Reinach also died there. Renoir's dealer Gaston Bernheim de Villiers lost his son Claude to Auschwitz, and many Bernheim pictures were looted. The book explores how Jewish patrons and salonnières—like Charles Ephrussi and Louise Cahen d'Anvers—fueled Impressionism, only to see their families destroyed by the Vichy regime. Ostler's narrative intertwines art history with a cautionary tale about the resurgence of antisemitism.