Alfred Sisley

H. Vever, Paris (Sale:  Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Vente H. Vever, February 1 & 2, 1897, lot 101)

George Viau, Paris (Sale:  Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, Vente George Viau, March 4, 1907, lot 71)

Salomon, Copenhagen

Huguette Berès, Paris

Thence by descent

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Tableaux par P.-A. Bernard, J.-C. Cazin, C. Monet, A. Sisley et F. Thaulow , 1899, no. 76

Copenhagen, Château de Charlottenborg, Peinture française, 1918

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1959,  no. 694, illustrated

Excellent condition. Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light there are a few tiny specks of inpainting at the two top corners and 1 or 2 other specks along the center top edge but the canvas is virtually untouched and 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.

During the 1880s Sisley painted a series of works from different vantage points along the banks of the Loing.  One of his favorite spots was Moret, a village whose appeal, as Richard Shone has described it, "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 of 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 pier 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' " (Richard Shone, Sisley, New York, 1992, p. 159). 

Sisley's chief concern in this series was to capture the landscape at different times of day and during different seasons.  In this oil he presents the river spilling over its banks and flooding the edges of the town.   As the critic Gustave Geffroy wrote in 1923, "He sought to express the harmonies that prevail, in all weathers and at every time of day, between foliage, water and sky, and he succeeded... He loved river banks; the fringes of woodland; towns and villages glimpsed through the trees; old buildings swamped in greenery; winter morning sunlight; summer afternoons" (Gustave Geffroy, "Sisley", in Les Cahiers d'Aujourd'hui, Paris, 1923).