A. Vollard, Tableaux, Pastels & Dessins de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, vol.II, Paris, 1918, (illustrated p.84).~G-P. Dauberville & M. Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des Tableaux, Pastels, Dessins et Aquarelles, Vol. III: 1895-1902, Paris, 2010, no.2543 (illustrated p.488).~~In 1895, Renoir's friend and patron Paul Gallimard, the director of the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris, commissioned him to decorate his home in Normandy with a series of oil paintings. Renoir's friend Mounet-Sully had acted the role of Oedipus on stage and this inspired the artist to base his series on the tragic story of the Greek king who killed Laius, the King of Thebes, and married his widow Jocasta, unaware that he had fulfilled his destiny of murdering his own father and marrying his mother. The dramatic subject was an unusual choice for Renoir who had hitherto favoured idyllic landscapes and softly painted portraits. Sadly the project never came to fruition Gallimard never acquired the finished paintings and they remained in the artist's studio, together with several related drawings.