The China Mail - Paris auctioneers unveil Renoir child portrait of filmmaker son

The oil painting -- "L'enfant et ses jouets – Gabrielle et le fils de l'artiste, Jean" ("The Child and His Toys - Gabrielle and the son's artist, Jean" -- has been valued at $1 million-$1.5 million, the Drouot auction house said.

Believed to have been painted between 1890 and 1895, it features the artist's second son Jean Renoir as a little boy, sitting on his nanny's lap and playing with toy figurines.

Jean Renoir, born in 1894, grew up to be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975, several years before he died aged 84.

His works include 1930s classic "La Grande Illusion", following two French prisoners of war trying to escape German captivity during World War I.

The nanny, Gabrielle Renard, started working for the painter's wife aged just 16, the auction house said. She was one of Renoir's favourite models, posing in around 200 paintings.

The portrait of Jean and Gabrielle belonged to Jean's godmother, Jeanne Baudot, and was passed down from one generation to the next until recently.

The work is up for auction on November 25.

M.Zhou--ThChM