Irène Cahen d’Anvers

Irène was born in 1872 and lived in Paris. Her father, a wealthy Jewish banker named Louis Raphael Cahen d’Anvers, commissioned Auguste Renior for three portraits in 1880 one of each of his daughters. During this period Renior had been doing portraits for many of the Jewish families in Paris, and the Cahen family was one of the richest. As such, Renoir did not negotiate a price before beginning his work. Upon completion of the portrait of Irène, the Cahens decided that they did not like it, and told Renior to paint Irène’s two younger sisters (Alice and Elisabeth) together. After he finished the second portrait, Louis Cahen paid Renoir a mere 1,500 francs for both paintings (far less than they were truly worth, even at that time). To add insult to injury, hung them in his servant’s quarters. Renoir was furious.