阿爾弗雷德·希斯里

Jean-Baptiste Faure, Paris 

Mme Maurice Faure, Paris (inherited from the above in 1914)

Durand-Ruel, New York (acquired from the above by Durand-Ruel Paris with Georges Petit on August 31, 1919 and held by Durand-Ruel New York until 1921)

Carroll Carstairs, New York (1929-1938)

Knoedler and Co., Paris & New York (acquired from the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner in the 1940s

Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, A. Sisley, 1897, no. 22

Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, Alfred Sisley, 1917, no. 57

Paris, Galerie Knoedler, Peintres de l’école française du xix Siècle, 1924, no. 33

Gustave Geffroy, Sisley, Paris, 1927, illustrated pl. 41

George Besson, Sisley, Paris, n.d., illustrated pl.48

Gotthard Jedlicka, Sisley, Berne, 1947, illustrated pl. 42

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 684, illustrated in the catalogue

A dazzling sunset on a crisp October evening is the subject of Sisley's luminous depiction of Moret along the Loing river. Sisley returned to Moret throughout his career, inspired by the neo-Gothic cathedral of the town and its picturesque surroundings.  In the 1890s he would complete a famous series of the bridge across the Loing, which featured the closer view of the architecture. In the present work from 1888, the artist presents a view of the town at dusk, when the sky is dappled with the warm pink and violet lights of the setting sun.  

Richard Shone discussed the appeal of this location: "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 interweaving of foliage and house fronts between sky and water" (R. Shone, Sisley, London, 1992, p. 159). 

The first owner of this picture was the French operatic baritone and composer Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830-1914).  Along with being a celebrate figure in the world of classical music, Faure was also a key member of the Impressionist circle, posed for numerous paintings by Manet and at one point was the owner of Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe.  Along with that legendary composition and the present work, Faure's collection included over 120 canvases by Manet and Monet.  Upon Faure's death at the beginning of World War I, this picture was inherited by his son Maurice's wife, Mme Faure.  By the 1920s the picture had come into the possession of Carroll Carstairs who sold it through Knoedler Gallery to the present owners.