Alfred Sisley

Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on April 29, 1882)

Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired from the above on June 3, 1937)

Claudia E. Haines, New York (acquired from the above on December 24, 1948)

Acquired by descent from the above

New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Exhibition of paintings by Sisley, 1912, no. 11 

Hagerstown, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, The Impressionist Masters, 1936, no. 17

New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Views on the Seine by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, 1937, no. 8

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists, 1937, no. 35

Crandall Public Library, 1939

Narragansett, South County Art Association, 1940

New York, Wildenstein Gallery, From Paris to the Sea, Down the River Seine, 1945

New London, Lyman Allyn Museum, 1945

Gustave Geffroy, Sisley, Paris, 1927, illustrated pl. 58

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 407, illustrated n.p.

Excellent condition over all. The canvas is lined. Under UV, there is evidence of old retouching in the upper-left corner.
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Painted in 1880 at the height of the Impressionist movement, Les Carrières à Veneux au soleil - le matin is a glorious expression of Sisley’s sensitivity to the most subtle effects of light and shadow.  The scene depicts the charming rural landscape of the Moret-sur-Loing, where he would complete some of the most successful works of his career. 

William R. Johnston has rightly placed importance on the fact that a number of Sisley’s works from this period have titles which "gave more than merely geographic locations. Rather they contained references to times of day, months or weather conditions, suggesting that Sisley wanted to capture the ephemeral effects of weather and time as much as describe the more physical aspects of the landscape,’ reminding us how Sisley ‘frequently returned to the same site to explore the visual potential of a particular scene under different temporal and seasonal conditions" (W. R. Johnston, in Alfred Sisley (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy, London, 1992, p. 190).

 

The uplifting mood of the present work reflects Sisley’s happiness living and working in these pastoral landscapes and indeed he decided to stay in the Moret area for almost twenty years, until his death in 1899.  As Richard Shone explains: "The fame of Moret rested not so much on what was found inside the town but on the view it presented from across the Loing. Old flour and tanning mills clustered along the bridge; the river, scattered with tiny islands, seemed more like a moat protecting the houses and terraced gardens that, on either side the sturdy Porte de Bourgogne, in turn defended the pinnacled tower of the church. Add to this the tree-lined walks along the river, the continuous sound of water from the weir and the great wheels of the mills, the houseboats and fishermen, and there was, as every guidebook exclaimed, 'a captivating picture', a sight 'worthy of the brush.' These supremely picturesque aspects of Moret left Sisley unabashed" (R. Shone, Sisley, London, 1992, p. 159).