Alfred Sisley

Allard du Chollet, Paris
Isidore Montaignac, Paris
V. Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen (and sold: American Art Association, New York, April 21, 1922, lot 34)
Durand-Ruel, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above on July 27, 1922)
Jacques Balsan, Paris (acquired from the above on November 27, 1924)
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above on June 30, 1930)
Mme d'Alayer (née Marie-Louise Durand-Ruel), Paris (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 22, 1993, lot 21)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Alfred Sisley, 1917, no. 41
Paris, Galerie d'Art Braun, Sisley, 1933, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Alfred Sisley, 1937, no. 37
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Pissarro and Sisley, 1955, no. 49, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Alfred Sisley, 1971, n.n.
Hiroshima, Prefectural Art Museum & Tokyo, Bunkamura Museun of Art, Monet and Renoir: Two Great Impressionist Trends, 2003-04, no. 32

Gustave Geoffroy, Sisley, Paris, 1923, illustrated pl. 17
Gustave Geoffroy, Sisley, Paris, 1927, illustrated pl. 48
François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 715, illustrated n.p. 

Canvas is lightly lined. Surface bears a rich and textured impasto. Canvas slightly bowed at extreme upper left corner. Surface is clean. Some scattered pigment shrinkage to the extreme branches of the tree at its upper right. Under UV light one hairline retouch towards center of left edge as well as a few lines across extreme upper edge, likely to address prior frame abrasion. Two pindots in the sky towards at center of upper left quadrant, otherwise fine. This work is in very good 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.

La Crue du Loing à Moret depicts the environs of Moret-sur-Loing, an area that provided particular emotional resonance for Sisley. The artist felt a keen affinity with the landscape of the small historic town, nestled along the banks of a tributary of the Seine, and he made increasingly frequent trips there during the 1880s in search of creative inspiration. Sisley eventually settled there in 1889, the year in which the present work was created, moving into a small house in the center of the town. In a letter to Monet written in the early 1880s, the artist outlined the virtues of the town to his fellow artist: “It’s…rather a chocolate-box landscape… Moret is two hours away from Paris, with plenty of houses to rent… Market once a week, very pretty church, some quite picturesque views…” (quoted in Mary Anne Stevens, ed., Alfred Sisley (exhibition catalogue), Royal Academy of Arts, London (& travelling), 1992, p. 184).

The importance of La Crue du Loing à Moret was recognized early by Gustave Geffroy, one of the leading advocates of Sisley’s painting, who chose to include an illustration of the work in his monograph on the artist, published in 1923. Exhibited on several occasions during the twentieth century, including at Galerie Georges Petit in 1917, La Crue du Loing à Moret was at one time in the collection of Jacques Balsan, the celebrated French aviator who became the second husband of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. It was then purchased by the legendary Durand-Ruel gallery in Paris, remaining with the Durand-Ruel family until 1993.

Sisley frequently painted the same scene at each season and at varying times of day, suggesting the changing conditions and permutations of light through different brushwork and painterly techniques. Within La Crue du Loing à Moret the bare branches of the trees and windswept sky convey the distinctive atmosphere of a mid-winter day, with the cloud laden sky effectively depicted through rapid, feathery brushstrokes. Sisley discussed the significance of the sky as a compositional anchor within his work: “The sky itself is the medium. The sky is not simply a background: its planes give depth (for the sky has planes as well as solid ground), and the shapes of the clouds give movement to a picture” (quoted in Vivienne Couldrey, The English Impressionist, London, 1992, p. 71). Ultimately, La Crue du Loing à Moret is an impressive illustration of Sisley’s ability to transmute the sensations of nature and the qualities of light within painterly form, and justifies Couldrey’s assertion that “his paintings of Moret are among the greatest works of Sisley and of Impressionism” (ibid., p. 71).