About 500 people turned out Tuesday night for the Montreal auction of a rare Renoir painting. It was an exclusive event that pulled in art lovers, agents for foreign bidders, and some folks who were just plain curious â but none of them were willing to meet the owner's price.

The Renoir is La Famille, which was painted circa 1896 and is a portrait of the artist's family. The child in the picture is Jean Renoir, who grew up to be a famed French film director. He is sitting on the lap of Gabrielle Renard, a family employee and one of the painter's favorite models.

The high-priced painting once belonged to the Chrysler family, until they sold it in 1959 for $25,000 US.

The painting next changed hands in 1989, when it went for $3.8 million US, far more than its 1996 price of $610,000 US.

It has since been in the hands of a private Japanese collector, who was also selling a valuable work by Marc Chagall.

The owner had been hoping for more than what turned out to be the top bid Tuesday night, of $1.45 million US.

Art of this stature is rarely sold in Canada, and instead is traded privately or sold through Christies or Sotheby's, in London or New York.

Abraham Rogozinsky, president of Empire Auctions, told CTV News that when he was initially asked to sell the Renoir, he thought it would be a small piece. Maybe an etching, a little sketch. He said he nearly fell over when the package was opened at his auction house, and it turned out to be a major work.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841 and died in 1919. He is the most popular of France's Impressionist painters, and remains one of the world's most reproduced artists. His favourite subjects were children, flowers, and beautiful women. Why shouldn't art be pretty? he once said. There are enough unpleasant things in the world.