Alfred Sisley

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on October 28, 1880)

Durand-Ruel, New York (acquired from the above)

Hanna Marcy Edwards, Boston (acquired from the above)

Grace M. Edwards, Boston (by descent from the above in 1929)

Acquired as a bequest of Hanna Marcy Edwards in honor of her mother Juliana Cheney Edwards on October 11, 1939

Paris, 251 rue Saint-Honoré, Septième Exposition des Artistes indépendants, 1882, no. 169

Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, 1939-40, no. 54, illustrated in the catalogue

Providence, Rhode Island School of Design, Paris in Paintings, 1951

Atlanta, The High Museum of Art & Denver, The Denver Art Museum, Corot to Braque: French Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1979-80, no. 40, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art & San Francisco, Museum of Fine Art, The New Painting, Impressionism, 1986, no. 135, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Springfield, Museum of Fine Arts, Lasting Impressions: French and American Impressionism from New England Museums, 1988, illustrated in the catalogue

Kyoto, Municipal Museum of Art; Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art & Yokohama, Sogo Museum of Art, From Neoclassicism to Impressionism: French Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989

Nagoya, Matsuzakaya Art Museum; Nara Prefectural Museum & Hiroshima Museum of Art, The World of Impressionism and Pleinairism, 1991

Bunkamura Museum of Art & Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Monet and His Environs: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1992-93

Copenhagen, Ordrupgaard Museum for French Impressionism,  Impressionism: City and Modern Life, 1996

Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art & Kobe, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Monet and His Contemporaries: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1992-93

Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts & Nagoya, Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Impressionism: City and Modern Life, 1999

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts & Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Monet, Renoir and the Impressionist Landscape, 2000-01, no. 37

Las Vegas, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Claude Monet: 1840-1926, Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2004-05

Passariano, Villa Manin, L'Età de Courbet e Monet, 2009-10, no. 111, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Tokyo, Mori Arts Center Gallery & Kyoto, Municipal Museum of Art, European Masterpieces, 2010 

Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1939, vol. 37, p. 110, no. 54, illustrated p. 107

Art Digest, New York, December 15, 1939, vol. 14, p. 6

Summary Catalogue of European Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1955, no. 280, p. 61

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1959, no. 374, illustrated

Alexandra R. Murphy, European Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Medford, 1985, illustrated p. 264

Very good condition. This work has been relined. The ground and the paint layer are in excellent condition, and there is no evidence of retouching under ultra violet light. There are some stable drying cracks in the darker pigments, especially the blues.
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.

The dramatic Jour de brouillard à Saint-Mammès is one of Sisley's most atmospheric paintings from the high-point of his career, when his response to the natural world was most visceral. When this picture was exhibited at the seventh showing of the Impressionist group in 1882, critics were particularly captivated by the "serene charm" and steely beauty of the riverbank on an overcast day, with one critic even praising the "lovely melancholic smile" of Sisley's work.  In his review of the exhibition, the writer Ernst Cheneau provided a poetic description of Sisley's technique, particularly with regard to his use of color to harness the sentient qualities of the landscape.  "Sisley has masterfully taken possession of the banks and waters of the Seine," wrote Ernest Cheneau in response to this picture, "... the breeze, like a moving mirror, splinters into a thousand pieces the gold of autumn leaves and scatters the opal reflections of light, fleecy clouds, their soft gray drenched with melancholy" (Ernest Cheneau, Paris-Journal, March 7, 1882, reprinted in The New Painting, op. cit., p. 418).

Jour de brouillard à Saint-Mammès has been in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts for over seventy years, having been bequeathed to the institution by the Edwards family of Boston.  It is one of the compositions originally purchased by Hannah Marcy Edwards, one of the three children of Juliana Cheney Edwards.  Together with her brother Robert and sister Grace, Hannah would donate the family's collection to the Museum of Fine Arts in honor of their mother.  Since the family donated it to the museum in 1939, it has been exhibited extensively throughout the world.