Alfred Sisley

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris
Richard Semmel, Berlin
Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, June 13, 1933, lot 46 (involuntary consignment by Richard Semmel, unsold)
Galerie Moos, Geneva, May 23, 1936, lot 31 (collection of Richard Semmel)
with E.J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, 1938
with Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto (before 1966)
with Schoneman Galleries, New York
Julia Appleton Bird, Massachusetts (acquired from the above in the early 1960s and sold by the estate: Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, November 16, 1983, lot 16)
Private Collection, Switzerland (and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 25, 1996, lot 119)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Amsterdam, Galerie van Wisselingh, Mâitres français des XIXe et XXe siècles, 1938, no. 32
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on loan 1982-83

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Lausanne, 1959, no. 728, illustrated n.p. (with incorrect dimensions)

The canvas has been relined. When examined under UV light, there is some minor retouching to the upper right and upper center. The varnish is clean. The impasto is lively. The painting 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.

This painting is offered pursuant to a settlement agreement between the present owner and the heirs of Richard Semmel. Richard Semmel was a German-Jewish industrialist and a distinguished art collector. He had begun collecting art, both Dutch Old Masters and modern French paintings, in the 1920s and articles on his collection appeared in leading art journals of the time in Germany. Because of his Jewish background and political leanings, he was an early target for National Socialist persecution. Semmel left Berlin for Amsterdam in 1933 and then fled Holland for New York in 1940, where he died in 1950.

Sisley repeatedly returned to Moret throughout his career, inspired by the neo-Gothic cathedral of the town and its picturesque surroundings. In the 1890s he completed a famous series of paintings of the bridge across the Loing, which featured a closer view of the architecture. In the present work, the artist presents the picturesque outskirts of the town in nuanced autumnal palette, with the trees, houses and sky reflecting brilliantly off the water.

Richard Shone discusses 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" (Richard Shone, Sisley, London, 1992, p. 159).