Sleeping Cat Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Title: Sleeping Cat. Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). Completion Date: 1862. Style: Impressionism. Period: Early Years. Technique: oil. Material: canvas. Gallery: Private Collection.

Renoir was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, the child of a working-class family. As a boy, he worked in a porcelain factory where his drawing talents led to his being chosen to paint designs on fine china. He also painted hangings for overseas missionaries and decorations on fans before he enrolled in art school. During those early years, he often visited the Louvre to study the French master painters.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because it's copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923 are now in the public domain.

This image is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris), in this case, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from the last day of that year. +sookie tex