Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)

In 1878 Sisley moved to 7 avenue de Bellevue in Sèvres (fig. 1), a suburb of Paris famous for its porcelain factory, where he resided for the next two and a half years, painting many views of the town including the quays, bridge and square as well as the porcelain factory depicted in the present painting.

The Sèvres factory was founded in 1738 in the Château de Viennes. In 1752 Louis XV became the principal shareholder under the influence of Madame de Pompadour. The factory was moved in 1756 to a new building at Sèvres and enjoyed its golden age. In 1793 the factory was declared as state property. By the time Sisley painted the present painting, the factory had been reorganized and was attempting to revive its former excellence and glory.

As Christopher Lloyd commented on the artist's paintings from this period, "The group of paintings by Sisley dating from the 1870s are subject to the strictest pictorial organization. It is this compositional aspect, in addititon to their facture that makes these paintings, in comparison with landscapes by artists of the Barbizon school, specifically modern. Sisley incorporates an almost relentless array of horizontals, verticals and diagonals deployed as plunging perspectives and flat bands of planar divisions. Yet, Sisley, more so in many cases than even Pissarro and Monet, was more radical than any of his sources, since he seeks to bring order to a world in an ever increasing state of flux. The depiction of modernity was best served by a resolute style derived from astute visual analysis and confident technique" (C. Lloyd, "Alfred Sisley and the Purity of Vision", Alfred Sisley, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992).

(fig. 1) Photograph of the avenue de Bellevue, Sèvres. Municipal Archives, Sèvres.Barcode23669437

Pre-Lot Text

Property from the Maspro Art Museum, Japan