Alfred Sisley
English, 1839–1899
Banks of the Seine at By
c. 1880–81
A young girl in a blue dress, thought to be Sisley’s daughter Jeanne, walks along a path by the Seine. This is one of a group of paintings of local rivers that the artist made shortly after he and his family settled near Moret-sur-Loing, southeast of Paris. A scattering of white and yellow flowers suggests the scene was painted in spring. Sisley used a variety of different brushstrokes to record subtleties of light, color, and atmosphere.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 21 3/8 x 28 7/8 in. (54.3 x 73.3 cm) Frame: 31 x 38 5/16 x 2 7/8 in. (78.7 x 97.3 x 7.3 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.534 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Alfred Sisley, Banks of the Seine at By, c. 1880–81, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.534
Select Bibliography
Dumas, Ann, Mary Anne Stevens and Vincent Pomarède. Alfred Sisley: poète de l'impressionnisme. Exhibition catalogue. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2002.
Conforti, Michael, et al. The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2006.
San Francisco.. Golden Gate Exhibition.. 1939..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956.
Harris, Jean C., Steve Kern, and Bill Stern. Lasting Impressions: French and American Impressionism from New England Museums. Exhibition catalogue. Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988.
The Chunichi Shimbun.. The World of Impressionism and Pleinairism. Matsuzakaya Museum of Art, Nagoya, March 21-April 28, 1991; Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, May 3-June 16, 1991; Hiroshima Museum of Art, June 22-July 28, 1991.. 1991..
Alfred Sisley, 1839-1899. Exh. cat. New Haven: Yale University Press; London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1992.
Durand-Ruel Galleries.. A Selection of Paintings from the Durand-Ruel Galleries.. 1948..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
François Daulte.. Alfred Sisley.. Lausanne: Durand-Ruel.. 1959..
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Alfred Sisley. Poet of Impressionism. Jun. 6-Sep. 15, 2002. Gallerie d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy, Feb. 17-May 19, 2002; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Oct. 9, 2002-Jan. 6, 2003. Madrid and Lyon only.
Dumas, Ann and Mary Anne Stevens. Alfred Sisley: Poet of Impressionism. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Jun. 6-Sep. 15, 2002; Gallerie d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy, Feb. 17-May 19, 2003; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Oct. 9, 2002-Jan. 6, 2003. 2002:pp. 226-227.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Paintings on Exhibition, July 1968. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1968.
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
[Gaston-Alexandre Camentron, Paris, sold to Durand-Ruel, 25 Aug. 1891];10 [Durand-Ruel, Paris, possibly transferred to New York in 1897]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, possibly from 1897–1948, sold to Clark, 11 May 1948, as Bords de la Seine à By, Printemps]; Robert Sterling Clark (1948–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
