Description
In 1875 Alfred Sisley moved to the village of Marly-le-Roi, where in the 1600s King Louis XIV had built an elegant country retreat. The artist’s home on the rue de l’Abreuvoir flanked the pool, or “watering place,” featured on the left of this canvas. The pool was all that remained of the water gardens that had been part of the king’s park.
Sisley remained faithful to landscape subjects throughout his career, spending most of his life painting in the villages along the Seine River, in the region referred to as the cradle of Impressionism.
Provenance
Louis Flornoy, Paris; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 10, 1905, lot 40 for 5350 fr. to Camentron; M. L. Camentron, Paris. Paul Rosenberg and Co., Paris and New York [acc. to Daulte 1959]. M. Ziegler [according to Daulte 1959]. Possibly Wildenstein and Co., New York [Wildenstein valued the painting in 1971 and the Runnells purchased many paintings through them]; Mrs. Clive Runnells, Lake Forest, Illinois by 1971; given to the Art Institute, December 1971 [half-interest acquired by the AIC].
Accession Number
37741
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
39.5 × 56.2 cm (15 7/16 × 22 1/8 in.); Framed: 63.9 × 80.7 × 9.6 cm (25 1/8 × 31 3/4 × 3 3/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Clive Runnells