Portrait of Jeanne Samary (La Reverie)

Jeanne Samary (1857-1890) was a French actress who also worked as model. She came from a strong musical and theatrical background: her father was a cellist, and two of her maternal aunts, as well as her grandmother, had been actresses.

She featured in Renoir’s 1876 work The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette and was the main subject of The Swing, also done that summer. At some point around 1877, Samary became Renoir’s lover, a move commemorated in the The Dreaming Woman (La Reverie). Renoir painted two other portraits of her.