The Terrace at Saint-Germain, Spring
Alfred Sisley1875
The Walters Art Museum
Baltimore, United States
In this panoramic view of the Seine River valley near the town of St.-Germain-en-Laye, Sisley captures the atmosphere and light conditions associated with early spring. On the heights in the distance, he includes the old château that housed the French royal court until 1682, but he also inserts some notes of modernity, including the steam tugs hauling barges on the river and the railroad bridge. Sisley was born in France of English parents. While enrolled in Charles Gleyre's studio in Paris, he and his fellow students, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Frédéric Bazille, began to paint outdoors in the Fontainebleau forest. In 1874, he showed five paintings in the first Impressionist exhibition. Of all the Impressionists, he and Monet would remain the most consistent landscape painters.
- Title: The Terrace at Saint-Germain, Spring
- Creator Lifespan: 1839/1899
- Creator Nationality: French and British
- Date Created: 1875
- Physical Dimensions: w99.6 x h73.6 x d17.145 cm
- Type: paintings
- Rights: Acquired by Henry Walters, after 1900, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
- External Link: The Walters Art Museum
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Provenance: Paul Durand-Ruel, 1880, by purchase [from the artist]; J. B. Faure, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Charles Guasco [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Charles Guasco Sale, Georges Petit, Paris, June 11, 1900, no. 67; Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1900, by purchase; E. J. Blair, Baltimore, July 9, 1900, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
- Place Depicted: Saint-Germain, France
- Inscriptions: [Signature] Lower left: Sisley; [Date] Lower left: 75; [Sticker] Durand-Ruel's sticker on back: Sisley No. 2646/La Terrasse St./Germain gsss; [Inscription] On crossbar of stretcher in pencil: D.R.N.Y./2360/2646
- ExhibitionHistory: Alfred Sisley: Master Impressionist. Royal Academy of Arts, London; Musee D'Orsay, Paris; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1992-1993; Landscapes of France: Impressionism and Its Rivals. Hayward Gallery, London. 1995; Impressions of France: Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Their Rivals. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston. 1995-1996; Before Monet: Landscape Painting in France and Impressionist Masters: Highlights from The Walters Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998; Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998-2001; Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1999-2000; Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. 2000-2002; A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. 2002-2004; The Road to Impressionism: Landscapes from Corot to Manet. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2004-2005; The Road to Impressionism: Barbizon Landscapes from the Walters Art Museum. The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis; The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh. 2008-2009; 19th Century Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin. 2010-2011
- Artist: Alfred Sisley
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