Specialist in 19th century art and literature, British author Catherine Hewitt talks about her new book Renoir's Dancer: the Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon, said to be Pierre-Auguste Renoir's favourite model.
She's the young woman in the red bonnet in Renoir's Dance at Bougival (1883), and the woman in the white satin ballgown in his Dance in the City (1883). She's also the subject of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's The Hangover (1887-89).
But as she tells Kathryn Ryan she was more than just an artist's muse. She was a respected artist in her own right.
