A new Sisley
Family affairs
Inheritances never leave us unmoved: they inevitably accompany a passage, they bring with them existential/geographical reflections (who we are, where we come from, where we go… etc. etc.), they disappoint the venal when they do not meet their expectations, especially when horrible cousins come in the way.
We don’t know exactly what emotions are behind the story we are about to tell you, but rediscovering in a house in the department French of Ain a work by Alfred Sisley will certainly have been a nice surprise!
The work, signed and dated 1892, represents a view of Rue des Fossées in Moret- sur- Loing where the artist lived. The painting remained for about 130 years in the home of a descendant family of Alfred Ernst, art and music critic, in turn a relative of the artist Charles Cottet who had exhibited with Sisley in 1890. The painting was auctioned for 250,100 euros. It will also be included in the reasoned catalogue of Sisley’s work by Francois Daulte, soon to be published.
Certainly the signature and the place of discovery are key elements in the study and attribution of a work, but just as certainly it is the diagnostic analysis that helps us to complete the puzzle!
(Federica Fani)