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La Croix-Blanche at Saint-Mammès
Alfred Sisley (British (active in France), 1839–1899)
1884
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
65.4 x 92.4 cm (25 3/4 x 36 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number39.680
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Between 1880 and 1885, Sisley painted nearly 300 compositions of the riverside town of Saint-Mammès, located about thirty-five miles southeast of Paris. Although titled for the grand 17th-century manor La Croix-Blanche, shown at right, this painting focuses on the more mundane aspects of the river view. Sisley’s nuanced study of the early spring light manifests in the expansive gray sky, gently rippling water, and the spindly trees’ long blue shadows, extending to the water’s edge.
InscriptionsLower right: Sisley. 84.
Provenance1884, sold by the artist to Georges Petit, Paris [see note 1]. 1899, possibly with Durand-Ruel, Paris [see note 2]. By 1929, Hannah Marcy Edwards (d. 1929), Boston [see note 3]; 1929, by descent to her sister, Grace M. Edwards (d. 1938), Boston; 1939, bequest of Hannah Marcy Edwards to the MFA [see note 4]. (Accession Date: October 11, 1939)
NOTES:
[1] See François Daulte, "Alfred Sisley" (Paris, 1959), no. 509.
[2] According to Daulte, 1959 (see above, n. 1), this was cat. no. 147 in the exhibition "Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, et Sisley," Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1899. Daulte also identifies this painting with cat. no. 300 in the exhibition "Paintings by Boudin...Sisley," Grafton Galleries, London, January-February, 1905; notes in the MFA curatorial file suggest that the latter piece of information is incorrect. That the painting was included in the 1899 Durand-Ruel exhibition has not been confirmed.
[3] According to notes in the MFA curatorial file, this picture may have entered Hannah Marcy Edwards's collection as early as 1917, but was certainly in her possession at the time of her death in 1929.
[4] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
NOTES:
[1] See François Daulte, "Alfred Sisley" (Paris, 1959), no. 509.
[2] According to Daulte, 1959 (see above, n. 1), this was cat. no. 147 in the exhibition "Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, et Sisley," Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1899. Daulte also identifies this painting with cat. no. 300 in the exhibition "Paintings by Boudin...Sisley," Grafton Galleries, London, January-February, 1905; notes in the MFA curatorial file suggest that the latter piece of information is incorrect. That the painting was included in the 1899 Durand-Ruel exhibition has not been confirmed.
[3] According to notes in the MFA curatorial file, this picture may have entered Hannah Marcy Edwards's collection as early as 1917, but was certainly in her possession at the time of her death in 1929.
[4] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.