The Girls Of Renoir

Two small girls in silk sashes stand hand in hand, painted by Renoir in the winter of 1881. Their portrait hangs in a great museum today, admired by millions who pass before it. Almost none of them know the girls' names. Almost none know that one of these children would one day be sent to Auschwitz. The Girls Of Renoir uncovers the true story hidden inside one of the most beloved images of childhood ever made. Elisabeth and Alice Cahen d'Anvers were daughters of one of the richest Jewish banking families in Belle Epoque Paris, a dazzling world of mansions and masterpieces, of balls and racecourses and secret love affairs. Their elder sister Irene married into the storied House of Camondo. Together they lived at the summit of a golden age, certain that wealth, culture, and a century of belonging had made them safe. It had not. This sweeping work of narrative history carries you from Renoir's studio through the Dreyfus Affair, the trenches of the Great War, and the glittering salons of old Paris, into the darkness of the occupation. It is a story of art and passion, of pride and assimilation, and of a betrayal so complete that it still has the power to break the heart. You will discover how a family that gave France its fortune, its art, and its sons was handed over to be destroyed, and how the paintings survived when the people did not. Researched with care and told with unflinching honesty, it restores names, faces, and lives to a history the world was content to forget. If you love sweeping true stories of art, family, and the lost world of old Europe, this book belongs on your shelf. Turn the first page, and meet the girls of Renoir before the world took everything from them. Scroll up and claim your copy today.