Alfred Sisley

Charles Ephrussi, Paris

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 25, 1932, lot 82

Paul Rosenberg, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Masurel (acquired circa 1932)

Edmond Duclos, Paris 

Private Collection (by descent from the above and sold: Christie's, Paris, May 24, 2005, lot 38)

Richard Green Fine Arts Ltd., London (acquired at the above sale)

Private Collection (acquired from the above)

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 702, illustrated (as dating from 1889)

This work is in excellent condition. Original canvas. Apart from a few small retouchings along the extreme edges and 3 tiny specks in the sky, this work is in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted from a vantage point across the Loing river, this wonderfully-detailed depiction of the town of Moret belongs to an important series that Sisley completed during the last decade of his life.  Sisley cherished the beauty and quietness of Moret, notable for its mills built upon a multi-arched bridge and its sturdy cluster of medieval architecture.  He took particular interest in the town's Gothic church of Notre-Dame, a subject of a large series of paintings, visible in the background of the present composition as it rises above the houses of the village.

Richard Shone discussed the appeal of this picturesque town: "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. Gathered in one spot were the motifs that had mesmerized him since he began to paint. Here were water, sky, reflections, a busy riverside; the multi-arched bridge was for the artist the last in a long line of such structures going back through Sèvres and St-Cloud and Hampton Court to Argenteuil and Villeneuve-la-Garenne. Here was that conjunction of man-made and natural, the interleaving of foliage and house fronts between sky and water" (R. Shone, Sisley, London, 1992, p. 159).