Pierre-Auguste Renoir's La Loge (The Theater Box), 1874, is one of the masterpieces of impressionism and a major highlight of The Courtauld Gallery's collection. Its depiction of an elegant couple on display in a loge epitomizes the Impressionists' interest in the spectacle of modern life. At the heart of the painting is the complex play of gazes enacted by these two figures. In turning away from the performance, Renoir focused instead upon theater as a social stage where status and relationships were on public display.

Accompanying an exhibition that will be the first to investigate the depiction 
of rural figures by one of the most admired British watercolorists of the 19th century, William Henry Hunt. Taking its lead from W.H. Hunt's watercolor The Head Gardener, c. 1825, that is part of The Courtauld Gallery's permanent collection, this focused display will be first to investigate Hunt's depiction of rural figures in his work of the 1820s and 1830s. Consisting of twenty drawings borrowed from collections across the United Kingdom, William Henry Hunt: Country People will bring together watercolors...