The Bridge at Moret, April Morning

Artist Alfred Sisley French and British, 1839–1899

Date1888

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsheight and width: 25 1/2 × 36 1/4 in. (64.8 × 92.1 cm)
frame: 35 3/8 × 45 7/8 in. (89.9 × 116.5 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Julian and Josie Robertson

Object number2023.9.3

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated Moret-sur-Loing, France, 1888. Georges Petit, Paris, before 1921 (1856–1920); [his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 4, 1921, no. 107, as Le Pont de Moret]; [Galerie Georges Petit, Paris] [1]. Saint-Albin Collection, Paris, possibly Albert de Saint-Albin (1843–1901); Mme. E. de Saint-Albin, Paris, before 1959 [2]. [possibly Wildenstein & Co., Paris and New York] [3]; [Galerie (Robert) Schmit, Paris, by 1966] [4]; [M. Knoedler & Co., New York, March 28, 1966, no. A8994, as Moret]; J. Gordon Hanes, Jr. (1916–1995), Winston-Salem, NC, September 30, 1966 [5]; to his son Eldrige (Redge) C. Hanes (b. 1945), Winston-Salem NC; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 2008, no. 30, as Le Pont de Moret – Matin d’Avril]; Julian Hart Robertson, Jr. (1932–2022) and Josephine (Josie) Tucker Robertson (1943–2010), New York; bequeathed to NCMA, 2023.

[1] Galerie Georges Petit’s acquisition of the painting at the Collection Georges Petit sale, March 4, 1921, is noted in the letter of authentication provided by the Comité Alfred Sisley, April 1, 2008. A copy of this letter is in the object file. The Galerie Georges Petit continued after Petit’s death in 1920 under the ownership of Etienne Bignou and Gastone and Josse Bernheim-Jeune. The Galerie closed in 1933, and much of its stock was sold off in a series of five sales through the Hotel Drouot throughout 1933. The present painting does not appear in either the first or fourth sales (those whose catalogues mention Sisley on their title page). Later, the Bernheim Jeune Paris art firm’s collections were seized by the Germans in the 1940s, but no further connection between this painting and that art firm has been found. This painting does not appear in the November 1946 list of recovered works looted or sold from the Josse Bernheim collection recorded by the Allies based on evidence from his wife and sons (ALIU Records, National Archives, DC).
[2] François Dualte’s Sisley catalogue raisonné, published in 1959, notes ownership of the painting as Mme. E. de Saint-Albin, Paris. The names listed above are the closest matches found for this information in terms of name and life dates at the time of writing (2023).
[3] The provenance for the 2008 Sotheby’s sale notes that the painting was “acquired from the above by the family of the present owner in the 1950s.” The painting was in fact acquired by the Hanes family in 1966 from the New York dealer Knoedler (see note 5). No connection with Galerie Wildenstein has yet been discovered.
[4] Robert Schmit (1920–2008) established the Galerie Schmit at 396 rue Saint Honoré, Paris, in 1964.
[5] Schmit’s ownership, Knoedler’s purchase, and the subsequent sale to Gordon Hanes are recorded in Knoedler Stock Book 11, page 197, row 32.

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