Camille Pissarro

Galerie Billou, Paris
Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above on 5th June 1872)
Ernest Hoschedé, Paris (acquired from the above on 17th February 1873. Sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13th January 1874, lot 58)
Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (purchased at the above sale)
Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above on 22nd November 1910)
Arthur Tooth and Sons, London
The 9th Earl of Jersey, Jersey (acquired from the above on 23rd May 1951)
Thence by descent to the present owners

Berlin, Paul Cassirer, X. Ausstellung, 1911, no. 22
St. Helier, Jersey Museum and Art Gallery, Barreau Art Gallery, Old Masters from Jersey Collections, 1952, no. 52
Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, How Impressionism Began, 1960, no. 33, illustrated in catalogue (titled The Oise at Pontoise)
Birmingham, City Museum and Art Gallery & Glasgow, The Burrell Collection, Camille Pissarro: Impressionism, Landscape and Rural Labour, 1990, no. 6
Barnard Castle, The Bowes Museum, The Road to Impressionism: Joséphine Bowes and Painting in Nineteenth-Century France, 2002-03, no. 31, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (titled La Grenouillière at Bougival)

Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son art, son œuvre, Paris, 1939, no. 174, illustrated pl. 35 (titled L'Oise à Pontoise)
Merete Bodelsen, ‘Early Impressionist Sales 1874-94 in the Light of Some Unpublished Procès-Verbaux’, in The Burlington Magazine, June 1968, mentioned p. 333 (titled Bords de L'Oise)
Ralph E. Shikes & Paula Harper, Pissarro, His Life and Work, London, Melbourne & New York,  1980, mentioned p. 81 (titled The Oise at Pontoise)
Christopher Lloyd (ed.), Les Collectionneurs des impressionnistes, amateurs et marchands, Düdingen, 1987, illustrated p. 45
Richard R. Bretell, Pissarro and Pontoise, the Painter in a Landscape, New Haven & London, 1990, mentioned p. 128 & 205 (titled L'Oise à Pontoise)
Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro. Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Paris, 2005, vol. II, no. 236, illustrated in colour p. 193

The canvas is unlined, the turnover edges have a thin linen strip-lining and there is a loose dust canvas attached to the stretcher. There are small areas of retouching in the lower right, upper left and upper right corners, a small horizontal line of retouching to the lower centre of the sky, and a few very small scattered spots of retouching in the sky and the foreground, visible under ultra-violet light. Apart from some minor craquelure in the sky, which is stable and not visually distracting, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the greens, particularly in the water, are fresher in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1869 Pissarro settled in Louveciennes, situated just north-west of Paris, and remained there until 1872, taking inspiration from the surrounding countryside and the river Seine. In La Seine à Port-Marly he depicted the busy stretch of the river and a cloudy sky above it. The rich vegetation on the river bank is combined with symbols of modern industrial world, both beautifully reflected on the water surface.

Over decades, the subject of this work was wrongly identified as Pontoise; the authors of the catalogue raisonné explained the following about the present work and another oil of the same subject, in the collection of Musée d’Orsay: ‘as with [the present work], Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro wrongly identified the site depicted here: it is not the banks of the Oise at Pontoise, but the banks of the Seine at Port-Marly. The light structure on the river in the foreground is the Port-Marly wash-house and the factory in the background is a paper-mill. Sisley painted his own version of the exact same view' (Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, op. cit., pp. 188-189).