By Luciano Migliaccio
Portrait of Renoir’s third son Claude, nicknamed “Coco,” born in 1901, which points to a dating of the work as approximately 1905-1906. According to Adriani this is the portrait featured in Portrait of Coco (Schnabel Collection, Hamburg). Camesasca (1988) notes that the work Portrait of Claude Renoir was probably immediately preceded by the terra-cotta medallion, executed in 1907 (Musée Marmottan), and is likely to have preceded the famous Clown Rouge (Musée de l’Orangerie), dated 1909, the compactness and density of which are somehow augured in the work on display at Masp.

— Luciano Migliaccio, 1998