Alfred Sisley
The Flood on the Road to Saint-Germain

Public Domain

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Artist Alfred Sisley (British, 1839–1899, active France)British, 1839–1899, active France

CultureBritish

Titles

The Flood on the Road to Saint-Germain

Date1876

PlaceFrance

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions17 15/16 × 24 1/8 inches (45.6 × 61.3 cm)

Credit LineJohn A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection, gift of Audrey Jones Beck

Object number74.146

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

222 Beck Galleries

On view

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Department

European Art, Beck Collection

Special Collections

Object Type

PAINTING

Provenance[Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, purchased from the artist, 4 January 1880]; purchased by Helen H. Pidge, Boston, 1880; [purchased by Durand-Ruel Gallery, New York, 8 November 1930]; [purchased by Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, 20 January 1937] [1]; Mrs. Murray Danforth (née Helen Metcalf, Providence, 1887–Providence, 1984), Providence, after 1939 [2]; [possibly Georges Gregory, by 1943] [3]; [purchased by Sam Salz (Radomyśl Wielki, now Poland, 1894–New York, 1981), New York, 22 March 1943]; [purchased by Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York, 24 March 1943] [4]; purchased by Madame Jacques Balsan (née Consuela Vanderbilt, New York, 1877–Southampton, New York, 1964), New York, 4 January 1944 [5]; Private collection, London, by 1969 [6]; [sold by them, Sotheby's, London, "Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 30 April 1969, lot 10, illus. in color]; [Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., London, "Impressionist Paintings," 1 July 1974, lot 12, illus. in color] [7]; purchased by Mrs. Audrey Jones Beck, Houston, 1974; given to MFAH, 1974.

[1] Purchase and sale dates (1880 [Durand-Ruel]; 1930; 1937) are from Daulte (1959), no. 238; Mrs. Pidge’s acquisition of the painting in 1880 is from Brame et Lorenceau (2021).

[2] Carstairs still owned the painting in 1939 when it was loaned to the MFA Boston show. Helen M. Danforth was president of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1931 to 1947 and then Chair of the Board of Trustees until 1965. Danforth is not included in Daulte (1959), however, her name was added to the provenance in Brame et Lorenceau (2021).

[3] The Salz records includes a listing for Sisley “L’Inondation” purchased from Georges Gregory on 22 March 1943, p. 40. Based on the price, this appears to be the painting that Salz then sold to Rosenberg three days later. Sam Salz, Sam Salz Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library. Digitized: https://libraryimage.nga.gov/mirador/?manifest=https://libraryimage.nga.gov/manifest/ic/991746403804896.json (Accessed by Julia May Boddewyn, 19 January 2025).

[4] Sales: Paul Rosenberg and Co., Sisley: “L’Inondation,” 25 March 1943, p. 123. Sam Salz, Sam Salz Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library. Digitized: https://libraryimage.nga.gov/mirador/?manifest=https://libraryimage.nga.gov/manifest/ic/991746403804896.json (Accessed by Julia May Boddewyn, 19 January 2025). According to an email dated 18 January 2025 from MaryKate Cleary, the painting is no. 326 in the Paul Rosenberg stockbook. The Paul Rosenberg Archives, a Gift of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg, [IV.A.2]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

[5] The painting is not mentioned in her memoir. Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, “The Glitter and the Gold,” (Maidstone, UK: George Mann, 1973).

[6] The collector kept the painting at Lefevre Gallery, London until its sale at Sotheby’s, London, in 1969.

[7] The buyer is listed as “Lumley” who was probably the agent for Mrs. Beck.

Exhibition HistoryMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston, Paintings, Drawings and Prints from Private Collections in New England, 1939, no. 125, pl. 62

The Lefevre Gallery, London, XIX and XX Century French Paintings, 1969, no. 12

Exhibited: "Sisley Exhibition," Toetan Museum, Tokyo, Japan, Sep 17 -Oct 14 1982(LN:82.6)

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed and dated lower left: Sisley 76

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Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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