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Several of Renoir's paintings, including very wel-known ones are misnamed. This is because the concention of dressing younger boys indresses fisappeared a century ago and is not widely appreciated by the public. One of Renoir's best known paintings is titled "Girl with a watering can" (previous page). It is instantly recognizable to anyone with the most minimal knowlefge of art. The original title Renoir gave the painting was reportedly "Boy With a Watering Can". The subjects of Renoir's painting are often mis-identified as to gender. This includes two well known paintings, although not as well known as "Girl with a watering can". For example, "Madame Charpentier and her daughters" and "Girl with a whip" are both paintings where the boys are mis-identified as girls. As with much of HBC's efforts to assess 19th Century fashion conventions, there is not a lot of clear cut information. It's interesting to note that Renoir himself when referring to the painting called it "Madame Charpentier and her girls" even though he must have known that the younger child was her son Paul. Renoir in fact did a separate portrait just of Paul. The clothing and hasir suggests it was sone at the samne time as the portrait here.
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