# The Cup of Chocolate

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***The Cup of Chocolate*** is an oil on canvas painting by the French artist [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](/source/Pierre-Auguste_Renoir) (1841–1919), featuring a model known as [Margot](/source/Marguerite_Legrand).[note 1] The painting, dated between 1877 and 1878, depicts a portrait of a young French bourgeois woman drinking either coffee or chocolate in a setting of luxury. Formerly held by private collectors, the painting was acquired by the [Louvre Abu Dhabi](/source/Louvre_Abu_Dhabi) in 2022.[1]

## Background

Like the rest of the Impressionists at this time, Renoir was not having much success with his exhibitions.[2] He decided to change directions and declined to submit any works to the Impressionist exhibition in March 1878, choosing to submit *The Cup of Chocolate* to the Salon that same year instead. This choice gave Renoir the opportunity to pursue new clientele, leading to new portrait commissions.[3] Renoir told art dealer [Paul Durand-Ruel](/source/Paul_Durand-Ruel) (1831–1922), "There are in Paris scarcely fifteen art-lovers capable of liking a painting without Salon approval. There are 80,000 who won't buy an inch of canvas if the painter is not in the Salon...My submitting to the Salon is entirely a business matter."[2]

Italian art critic [Diego Martelli](/source/Diego_Martelli) declared that Renoir had "deserted" the Impressionists and was encouraged by French salonist and art collector [Marguerite Charpentier](/source/Marguerite_Charpentier) to go back to the Salon of 1878.[4] Renoir submitted the painting to the Salon under the title *Le café*. It was accepted, but received little critical notice at the time.[5]

Margot replaced [Lise Tréhot](/source/Lise_Tr%C3%A9hot) as Renoir's favorite model, but she died tragically at the age of 23 in 1879 from smallpox.[6] After a period of grieving which prevented him doing any work, Renoir would find success just months later at the Salon of 1879 with *[Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children](/source/Madame_Georges_Charpentier_and_Her_Children)*.[7] After Margot's death, [Aline Charigot](/source/Aline_Charigot) began [sitting](/source/Model_(art)) for Renoir, becoming his wife just several years later.[8]

## Related works

Two additional works from 1912 and 1914 with the title *Cup of Chocolate* are held by the Barnes Foundation.[9]

## See also

- [List of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir](/source/List_of_paintings_by_Pierre-Auguste_Renoir)

## Notes

1. Margot was also known as Marguerite Legrand. Her real name on her birth certificate was Alma-Henriette Leboeuf, but she was also known as Henriette-Anna Leboeuf.[10] Renoir tells Vollard that he recalls the painting and the model's name as Marguerite, and that she was his preferred model, "a type of woman that I loved to paint".[11]

## References

1. Agence France-Presse 2022.

1. Rewald 1961, p. 416.

1. Patry 2022. Event occurs at 37:30.

1. Monneret 1990, p. 13.

1. White 2017, p. 68.

1. Strieter 1999, p. 138.

1. Rewald 1961, pp. 433, 603.

1. Bailey 1997, p. 212.

1. Lucy & House 2012, pp. 195, 330.

1. White 2017, p. 74; Distel 1999, p. 136.

1. Vollard 1925, p. 73-74.

## Bibliography

- [Agence France-Presse](/source/Agence_France-Presse) (October 13, 2022). ["Louvre Abu Dhabi marks five years with major Impressionism show"](https://www.kuwaittimes.com/louvre-abu-dhabi-marks-five-years-with-major-impressionism-show/). *[Kuwait Times](/source/Kuwait_Times)*. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
- [Bailey, Colin B.](/source/Colin_B._Bailey) (1997). [*Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age*](https://archive.org/details/renoirsportraits0000bail/). Yale University Press. National Gallery of Canada. ISBN 0-88884-668-1.
- [Distel, Anne](/source/Anne_Distel) (1999). [*Cézanne to Van Gogh: The Collection of Doctor Gachet*](https://archive.org/details/cezannetovangogh0000dist/). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870999031.
- Lucy, Martha. John House (2012). *Renoir in the Barnes Foundation*. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300151008. OCLC [742017633](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/742017633).
- Monneret, Sophie (1990). *Renoir*. Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 1568522495. OCLC [21902262](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21902262).
- Patry, Sylvie (2022). ["Impressionism: Pathways to Modernity"](https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/Explore/impressionism-exhibition-podcast-episode). *On Show*. [Louvre Abu Dhabi](/source/Louvre_Abu_Dhabi). Retrieved May 8, 2023.
- [Rewald, John](/source/John_Rewald) (1961). *The History of Impressionism*. [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art). OCLC [877360723](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/877360723).
- Strieter, Terry W. (1999). [*Nineteenth-century European Art: A Topical Dictionary*](https://archive.org/details/nineteenthcentur0000stri/). Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313298981.
- [Vollard, Ambroise](/source/Ambroise_Vollard) (1925). *[Renoir: An Intimate Record](https://archive.org/details/renoirintimatere00voll)*. Trans. by Harold L. Van Doren and Randolph T. Weaver. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780486264882. OCLC [23082906](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23082906).
- White, Barbara Ehrlich (2017). [*Renoir: An Intimate Biography*](https://archive.org/details/renoirintimatebi0000whit/). Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500774038. OCLC [1012226709](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1012226709).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Cup of Chocolate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cup_of_Chocolate) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cup_of_Chocolate?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.