"Settling at Veneux-Nadon in 1880, Sisley made the area his own. This move, which at first sight looks like a break in the artist's life, can also be seen as a return to the past, a rediscovered allegiance to the scenes of his early career, which were not far away at Barbizon, Chailly-en-Bière and Marlotte." (M. Stevens, Alfred Sisley, London, 1992, p. 183)

Sisley's move to this region at the edges of the Forest of Fontainebleu, on the banks of the Loing, coincided with a significant phase in the development of Impressionism. Criticism and self-doubt assailed his contemporaries, but Sisley seemed to remain convinced of the aims of Impressionism and continued his quest to capture on canvas the colours of the seasons and light at different times of the day along the banks of the Loing and the Seine. Sisley found the Moret region replete with promising subjects, in the very year this work was painted he gave to Monet his impressions of the town he would soon make his home: "It is not a bad part of the world, rather a chocolate-box landscape..Moret is two hours from Paris, with plenty of houses to rent..a market once a week, a pretty church, and beautiful scenery roundabout..." (ibid., p. 184). His works from this period are freer in terms of both technique and palette and stylistically bear ressemblence to Monet's Argenteuil canvases. Sisley uses small, rhythmic brush-strokes to enliven the entire surface of the canvas, bringing this shaded view across the Loing to life. He inter-laces warm yellows and lilacs with greens and blues, balancing pastel and primary tones to recreate the bright sunlight and mood of an autumn day.