http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_254142/Pietro-Longhi/The-Perfume-Seller-2#Next_Paintingspicturile
luiPietro LonghiPietro Longhi
Self-portrait of Longhi
Birth namePietro Longhi
BornNovember 5, 1701
DiedMay 8, 1785(aged83)
NationalityItalian
Clara the rhinocerosby Pietro Longhi,1751 (Ca' Rezzonico)
La lezione di danza(The Dancing Lesson), ca 1741, Venezia,
Gallerie dell'Accademia
TheCharlatan, 1757
The Ridotto in Venice, ca. 1750sPietro Longhi(1702 or November
5, 1701[1] May 8, 1785) was aVenetianpainterof contemporary scenes
of life.Biography[Pietro Longhi was born inVenicein the parish of
Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and
his wife, Antonia. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to
paint. He was initially taught by the Veronese painterAntonio
Balestra, who then recommended the young painter to apprentice with
theBologneseGiuseppe Maria Crespi,[2]who was highly regarded in his
day for both religious andgenre paintingand was influenced by the
work of Dutch painters. Longhi returned to Venice before 1732. He
was married in 1732 to Caterina Maria Rizzi, by whom he had eleven
children (only three of which reached the age of maturity).Among
his early paintings are some altarpieces and religious themes. His
first major documented work was an altarpiece for the church of San
Pellegrino in 1732. In 1734, he completed frescoes in the walls and
ceiling of the hall inCa' Sagredo, representing theDeath of the
giants. In the late 1730s, he began to specialize in the
small-scalegenre worksthat would lead him to be viewed in the
future as the VenetianWilliam Hogarth, painting subjects and events
of everyday life in Venice. Longhi's gallant interior scenes
reflect the 18th century's turn towards the private and
thebourgeois, and were extremely popular.Many of his paintings show
Venetians at play, such as the depiction of the crowd of genteel
citizens awkwardly gawking at a freakish Indianrhinoceros(see
image). This painting, on display at theNational GalleryinLondon,
chroniclesClara the rhinocerosbrought to Europe in 1741 by a Dutch
sea captain and impresario fromLeyden, Douvemont van der Meer. This
rhinoceros was exhibited in Venice in 1751.[3]There are two
versions of this painting, nearly identical except for the unmasked
portraits of two men inCa' Rezzonicoversion.[4]Ultimately, there
may be a punning joke to the painting, since the young man on the
left holds aloft the sawed offhorn(metaphor forcuckoldry) of the
animal. Perhaps this explains the difference between the
unchaperoned women.Other paintings chronicle the daily activities
such as the gambling parlors (Ridotti) that proliferated in the
18th century.[5]Nearly half of the figures in his genre paintings
are faceless, hidden behindVenetian Carnivalmasks.[6]In some, the
insecure or naive posture and circumstance, the puppet-like
delicacy of the persons, seem to suggest a satirical perspective of
the artists toward his subjects. That this puppet-like quality was
an intentional conceit on Longhi's part is attested by the skillful
rendering of figures in his earlier history paintings and in his
drawings.[7]Longhi's manydrawings, typically in black chalk or
pencil heightened with white chalk on colored paper, were often
done for their own sake, rather than as studies for paintings.In
the 1750s, Longhilike Crespi before himwas commissioned to paint
seven canvases documenting the seven Catholicsacraments. These are
now inPinacoteca Querini Stampaliaalong with his scenes from the
hunt (Caccia).From 1763 Longhi was Director of the Academy of
Drawing and Carving. From this period, he began to work extensively
withportraiture, and was actively assisted by his son,Alessandro.
On 8 May 1785, following a short illness, he died, possibly due to
aheart attack.A paraphrase ofBernard Berensonstates that "Longhi
painted for the Venetians passionate about painting, their daily
lives, in all dailiness, domesticity, and quotidian mundane-ness.
In the scenes regarding the hairdo and the apparel of the lady, we
find the subject of gossip of the inopportune barber, chattering of
the maid; in the school of dance, the amiable sound of violins. It
is not tragic ... but upholds a deep respect of customs, of great
refinement, with an omnipresent good humor distinguishes the
paintings of the Longhi from those of Hogarth, at times pitiless
and loaded with omens of change".[citation needed]MasksIn numerous
paintings of the 1750s and 1760s, Longhi depicts the upper class as
masked figures engaging in various acts from gambling to flirting.
For example, in the foreground of Longhis paintingThe Meeting of
the Procuratore and His Wifeare a woman who is being greeted by a
man that is presumed to be her husband. The setting is of a type of
gathering place usually for masked people to engage in private
matters such as romantic encounters.[8]The woman and her husband
are not masked, but at the left a seated woman is unmasking herself
to address a masked man leaning over her shoulder. This act may
suggest that the womans Moretta mask, which lacks an opening for
the mouth, requires her to unmask herself in order to speak;
another interpretation is that the woman is interested enough in
the masked man to remove her mask in order to reveal her true
identity to him.[original research?]InThe Charlatan(1757;seen at
right) the titular character is relegated to the background, where
he stands on top of a table surrounded by admiring women and a
young boy. In the foreground, a masked woman seems to fiddle with
her fan and slyly look at a masked man who lifts part of her dress.
There is a sense of duality as the ordinary event of the man on the
top of the table is contrasted with the reality of Venetian life
represented by the couple indulging themselves; this is similar to
the duality of the mask used by his subjects to hide physically,
but to expose their unconscious desires.Longhis portrayal of
reality is also evident in his paintingThe Ridotto in Venice(ca.
1750s;seen at right) which depicts one of the many gambling halls
in Venice. The scene is a crowd of figures, masked and unmasked.
There is no one focal point in this work; many figures are playing
cards and engaging in mysterious conversation. The center of the
painting depicts a now familiar scene of a masked couple consisting
of a shy woman and an aggressive man who lifts her dress. Repeating
the figures of the flirtatious couple, Longhi displays the Ridotto
as a place where the social elitewho would not exhibit such
behavior in public nor unmaskedwould abandon all inhibitions and
pursue their actual desires.Works San Pellegrino sentenced to
execution, 17301732, oil on canvas, 400x340, parish church of San
Pellegrino Adoration of the Magi, 17301732, oil on canvas, 190x150,
Venice, Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista Fall of the giants,
frescoes, Venice, Ca 'Sagredo, 1734, Shepherd sitting, 1740, oil on
canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico Pastorello standing, 1740, oil
on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico Shepherdess with flower,
1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico Shepherdess with
cock, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x48, Bassano, Museo Civico Pastorello
standing, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x45, Rovigo, Museo del Seminario
The spinner, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The
Washerwomen, 1740, oil on panel, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The
happy couple, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The
polenta, 1740, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
Drinkers, 17401745, oil on canvas, 61x48, Milan, Galleria d'Arte
Moderna The concert, 1741, oil on canvas, 60x48, Venice, Gallerie
dell'Accademia The dance class, about 1741, oil on canvas, 60x49,
Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia The tailor, c. 1741, oil on canvas,
60x49, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia The toilet, ca 1741, oil on
canvas, 60x49, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia The presentation,
about 1741, oil on canvas, 64x53, Paris, Louvre The visit to the
library, about 1741, oil on canvas, 59x44, Worcester Art Museum
Frescoes, 1744, Venice, Church of San Pantalon The awakening of the
knight, 1744, oil on canvas, 49x60, Windsor, royal collections The
blindman's buff, 1744, oil on canvas, 48x58, Windsor, royal
collections Fainting, 1744, oil on canvas, 49x61, Washington,
National Gallery The game of the pan, 1744, oil on canvas, 49x61,
Washington, National Gallery The visit to the lady, 1746, oil on
canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum Meeting of the
Prosecutor and his wife, 1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, New York,
Metropolitan Museum The visit to the Lord, 1746, oil on canvas,
61x49, New York, New York, Metropolitan Museum The milliner, 1746,
oil on canvas, 61x49, New York, Metropolitan Museum Family group,
1746, oil on canvas, 61x49, London, National Gallery The visit of
the Prosecutor, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x49, London, National
Gallery The Dentist, c.1750, oil on canvas, 50x62, Milan, Brera The
laundresses, c. 1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Castle Zoppola,
Pordenone The polenta, c.1750, oil on canvas, 60x50, Castle
Zoppola, Pordenone The spinner, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50,
Castle Zoppola, Pordenone Drunks, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50,
Castle Zoppola, Pordenone The spinner, c.1750, oil on canvas,
60x49, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia The peasant woman
asleep, c.1750, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini
Stampalia The seller of fritole, c.1750, oil on canvas, 62x51,
Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The rhino, 1751, oil on canvas, 62x50,
Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The rhino, c. 1751, oil on canvas, 60x57,
London, National Gallery The soothsayer, 1752, oil on canvas,
62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The school work, 1752, oil on canvas,
62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico Geography lesson, 1752, oil on canvas,
61x49, Venice, Fondazione Querini Stampalia. The pharmacist, 1752,
oil on canvas, 60x48, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia The tickle,
1755, oil on canvas, 61x48, Madrid, Thyssen Collection Baptism,
1755, oil on canvas, 60x49, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
The charlatan, 1757, oil on canvas, 62x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico
Alchemists, 1757, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Ca 'Rezzonico The
Card Players, 1760, oil on canvas, 60x47, Milan, Galleria d'Arte
Moderna The Music Lesson, 1760, oil on copper, 45x58, Baltimore,
Walters Art Museum Philosopher Pythagoras, 1762, oil on canvas,
130x91, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia The cabin of the lion,
1762, oil on canvas, 61x50, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
Francesco Guardi, 1764, oil on canvas, 132x100, Venice, Ca
'Rezzonico The arrival of the Lord, c.1770, oil on canvas, 62x50,
Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia The family Michiel, 1780, oil
on canvas, 49x61, Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Longhi
Pietro Longhi,original namePietro Falca (born1702,VenicediedMay
8, 1785,Venice),painter of the Rococo period known for his small
scenes of Venetian social and domestic life.He was the son of a
silversmith, Alessandro Falca, in whose workshop he received
hisfirst training. Later he worked under the Veronese historical
painter Antonio Balestra, but his one important work of this sort,
the monumental ceiling of theFall of the Giants(completed 1734) for
thePalazzo Sagredo, was an artistic and critical failure. It is
likely that because of this he left Venice for a time and studied
at Bologna under the genre painterGiuseppe Maria Crespi. After his
return to Venice he devoted himself topaintingeveryday scenes from
the life of the citysupper classandbourgeoisie, somewhat in the
manner ofNicolas Lancretbut in a more ironic vein. He was also
undoubtedly influenced by Dutchgenre painting, of which there was
at least one important collection in Venice at that date. Longhis
genre pictures provide a varied and detailed documentation of
contemporary Venetian life and events (e.g.,The Dancing
MasterandExhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice. Popular for their
charm and seeming naivete, his paintings have a Rococo sense of the
intimate and manifest the interest in social observation
characteristic of the Enlightenment. His works, like those
ofAntoine Watteau, were based on carefully observed figure
drawings, a large number of which survive. He also painted
landscapes and occasional portraits. Many of his paintings were
engraved. He was elected to the Venetian Academy at its foundation
in 1756.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/347502/Pietro-Longhi
ietroFalca, known as Pietro Longhi, was the main painter
ofeveryday lifescenes in 18th-century Venice. His typicalsmall
interiorscenes record life in Venice, without biting satire or
pretentiousness though perhaps with a trace of gentle irony. Longhi
had been born in Venice, the son of a goldsmith, and trained first
by the history painter, Antonio Balestra (1666-1740).
He was subsequently inBologna, as a pupil ofGuiseppe Maria
Crespi, who was well known for his studies of contemporary life,
influenced by the work of Dutchpainters. Longhi returned to Venice
before 1732, the year of his marriage, and was active for a period
as ahistory painter. The first dated example of his typical small
interior scenes is from 1741.Related paintings
A Fortune Teller at VenicePietro Longhiabout 1756
A Lady receiving a CavalierPietro Longhi1745-55
A Nobleman kissing a Lady's HandPietro Longhiabout 1746
An Interior with Three Women and a Seated ManPietro
Longhiprobably 1750-5
Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at VenicePietro Longhiprobably
1751
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/pietro-longhi
Alfred Sisley
Alfred SisleyAlfred Sisley(n.30 octombrie1839 d.29 ianuarie1899)
a fost un pictor impresionist englez care a trit i a pictat n
Frana.Sisley s-a nscut nParis, prinii si fiind englezi William
Sisley i Felicia Sell. La nceputul anilor 1860 a studiat n
atelierul luiMarc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, unde i-a ntalnit
peFrederic Bazille,Claude Moneti pePierre-Auguste Renoir.mpreuna au
pictat n aer liber, pentru a captura ct mai real efectele pasagere
ale razelor solare. Abordarea inovativ la acel moment a generat
picturi mai colorate dect cele pe care erau oamenii obinuii s vad.
Prefer s picteze suprafeele apei, vederea caleidoscopic a apei.
Prin urmare Sisley i prietenii si au avut la nceput cteva
oportuniti de a-i vinde tablourile sau de a le expune, dei spre
deosebire de civa colegi de-ai si care aveau greuti financiare el
primea o alocaie de la tatl su.Lucrrile lui Sisley din studenie
s-au pierdut, cea mai timpurie lucrare a sa se crede, c a fost
pictat n jurul anului 1864. La sfritul anilor 1860, el a nceput o
relaie cu Eugenie Lescouezec, cu care a avut 2 copii. Relaia
acestora a continuat timp de 30 ani, sfrindu-se cu moartea
acesteia, cu cteva luni nainte de moartea lui n 1899.Sisley a murit
nMoret-sur-Loingla vrsta de 59 de ani.Galerie Bulevard cu mesteceni
lng La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 1865 Pod la Villeneuve-la-Garenne1872 Pod
la Hampton Court, 1874 Molesey Weir - Diminea, 1874 Regatta la
Hampton Court, 1874 Regatta la Molesey, 1874 Pajite, 1875 Inundaie
la Port-Marly, 1876.Muse d'Orsay Langland.
http://www.alfredsisley.org/-toate picturile
luihttp://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sisley Alfred SisleyAlfred
Sisley
Alfred Sisley in 1882
Born30 October 1839Paris,France
Died29 January 1899(aged59)Moret-sur-Loing,France
NationalityBritish
FieldPainting
TrainingMarc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
MovementImpressionism
Alfred Sisley(30 October 1839 29 January 1899) was
anImpressionistlandscapepainterwho was born and spent most of his
life inFrance, but retained British citizenship. He was the most
consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting
landscapeen plein air(i.e., outdoors). He never deviated intofigure
paintingand, unlikeRenoirandPissarro, never found that
Impressionism did not fulfill his artistic needs.Among his
important works are a series of paintings of the RiverThames,
mostly around Hampton, executed in 1874, and landscapes depicting
places in or nearMoret-sur-Loing.
BiographySisley was born on 30 October 1839 inParisto affluent
British parents. His father, William Sisley, was in
thesilkbusiness, and his mother Felicia Sell was a cultivated music
connoisseur.In 1857 at the age of 18, Sisley was sent toLondonto
study for a career in business, but he abandoned it after four
years and returned to Paris in 1861. From 1862, he studied at the
Pariscole des Beaux-Artswithin theatelierof Swiss
artistMarc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, where he became acquainted
withFrdric Bazille,Claude Monet, andPierre-Auguste Renoir. Together
they would paint landscapesen plein airrather than in the studio,
in order to realistically capture the transient effects of
sunlight. This approach, innovative at the time, resulted in
paintings more colorful and more broadly painted than the public
was accustomed to seeing. Consequently, Sisley and his friends
initially had few opportunities to exhibit or sell their work.
Their works were usually rejected by the jury of the most
importantart exhibitionin France, the annualSalon. During the
1860s, though, Sisley was in a better financial position than some
of his fellow artists, as he received an allowance from his
father.In 1866, Sisley began a relationship with Eugnie Lesouezec
(18341898; also known as Marie Lescouezec), a Breton living in
Paris. The couple produced two children: son Pierre (born 1867) and
daughter Jeanne (1869).[1]At the time, Sisley lived not far from
Avenue de Clichy and theCaf Guerbois, the gathering-place of many
Parisian painters.In 1868, his paintings were accepted at the
Salon, but the exhibition did not bring him financial or critical
success; nor did subsequent exhibitions.
Molesey Weir Morning, one of the paintings executed by Sisley on
his visit to Britain in 1874In 1870 theFranco-Prussian Warbegan,
and as a result Sisley's father's business failed and the painter's
sole means of support became the sale of his works. For the
remainder of his life he would live in poverty, as his paintings
did not rise significantly in monetary value until after his
death.[2]Occasionally, however, Sisley would be backed by patrons;
and this allowed him, among other things, to make a few brief trips
to Britain.The first of these occurred in 1874 after the first
independent Impressionist exhibition. The result of a few months
spent near London was a series of nearly twenty paintings of the
UpperThamesnearMolesey, which was later described by art
historianKenneth Clarkas "a perfect moment of Impressionism."Until
1880, Sisley lived and worked in the country west of Paris; then he
and his family moved to a small village nearMoret-sur-Loing, close
to theforest of Fontainebleau, where the painters of theBarbizon
schoolhad worked earlier in the century. Here, as art historian
Anne Poulet has said, "the gentle landscapes with their constantly
changing atmosphere were perfectly attuned to his talents. Unlike
Monet, he never sought the drama of the rampaging ocean or the
brilliantly colored scenery of theCte d'Azur."[3]In 1881 Sisley
made a second brief voyage to Britain.In 1897 Sisley and his
partner visited Britain again, and were finally married
inCardiffRegister Office on 5 August.[4]They stayed atPenarth,
where Sisley painted at least six oils of the sea and the cliffs.
In mid-August they moved to the Osborne Hotel atLangland Bayon
theGower Peninsula, where he produced at least eleven oil paintings
in and around Langland Bay andRotherslade Bay(then called Lady's
Cove). They returned to France in October. This was Sisley's last
voyage to his ancestral homeland. TheNational Museum
Cardiffpossesses two of his oil paintings of Penarth and
Langland.The following year Sisley applied for French citizenship,
but was refused. A second application was made and supported by a
police report, but illness intervened,[5]and Sisley remained
British till his death.The painter died on 29 January 1899 ofthroat
cancerinMoret-sur-Loingat the age of 59, a few months after the
death of his wife.Work
Lane Near a Small Town(c. 1864), one of the earliest extant
paintings by SisleySisley's student works are lost. His earliest
known work,Lane near a Small Town, is believed to have been painted
around 1864. His first landscape paintings are sombre, coloured
with dark browns, greens, and pale blues. They were often executed
atMarlyandSaint-Cloud. Little is known about Sisley's relationship
with the paintings ofJ. M. W. TurnerandJohn Constable, which he may
have seen in London, but some have suggested that these artists may
have influenced his development as an Impressionist painter,[6]as
may haveGustave CourbetandJean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.Among the
Impressionists Sisley has been overshadowed by Monet, although his
work most resembles that ofCamille Pissarro. Described by art
historianRobert Rosenblumas having "almost a generic character, an
impersonal textbook idea of a perfect Impressionist
painting",[7]his work strongly invokes atmosphere, and his skies
are always impressive. He concentrated on landscape more
consistently than any other Impressionist painter.Among Sisley's
best-known works areStreet in MoretandSand Heaps, both owned by
theArt Institute of Chicago, andThe Bridge at Moret-sur-Loing,
shown atMuse d'Orsay, Paris.Alle des peupliers de Moret(The Lane of
Poplars at Moret) has been stolen three times from theMuse des
Beaux-ArtsinNice- once in 1978 when on loan in Marseilles
(recovered a few days later in the city's sewers), again in 1998
(when the museum's curator was convicted of the theft and jailed
for five years with two accomplices) and finally in August 2007 (on
4 June 2008 French police recovered it and three other stolen
paintings from a van in Marseilles).[8]In 1952Paul Georgessold a
painting in New York Cityputativelyby Alfred Sisley (for $2000) to
help neighbor Mme. Mac Guffie, a widow from France. Her husband was
a dentist from Scotland who traded paintings from his customers who
were Impressionist painters.An amazingly large number of fake
Sisleys have been discovered. Sisley produced some 900 oil
paintings, some 100 pastels and many other drawings, although he
only lived to be 59 years old.[9]Selected works
The Terrace at Saint-Germain, Spring, 1875.The Walters Art
Museum
Flood at Port-Marly, 1876.Muse d'Orsay Lane near a Small Town(c.
1864) Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La Celle-Saint-Cloud(c. 1865)
Village Street in Marlotte(1866) Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La
Celle-Saint-Cloud(1867) Still Life with Heron(1867) The Seine at
St. Mammes(186769) View of Montmartre from the cite des
Fleurs(1869) Early Snow at Louveciennes(c. 187172) Boulevard
Heloise, Argenteuil(1872) Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne(1872)
Ferry to the Ile-de-la-Loge - Flood(1872) Footbridge at
Argenteuil(1872) La Grande-Rue, Argenteuil(c. 1872) Square in
Argenteuil (Rue de la Chaussee)(1872) Chemin de la Machine
Louveciennes(1873) Factory in the Flood, Bougival(1873) Rue de la
Princesse, Louveciennes(1873) Sentier de la Mi-cote,
Louveciennes(1873) Among the Vines Louveciennes(1874) Bridge at
Hampton Court(1874) The Lesson(1874) Molesey Weir- Morning(1874)
Regatta at Hampton Court(1874) Regatta at Molesey(1874) Snow on the
Road Louveciennes(1874) Under the Bridge at Hampton Court(1874)
Street in Louveciennes (Rue de la Princesse)(1875) The Terrace at
Saint-Germain, Spring(1875) "The Terrace at Saint-Germain, Spring"
(1875) Small Meadows in Spring(c. 1881) Storr Rock, Lady's Cove, le
soir(1897) On the cliffs, Langland Bay(1897)Gallery Avenue of
Chestnut Trees near La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 1865 Early Snow at
Louveciennes, c. 1871-1872 Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne1872
Footbridge at Argenteuil, 1872 Chemin de la Machine Louveciennes,
1873 Sentier de la Mi-cote, Louveciennes, 1873 Among the Vines
Louveciennes, 1874 Bridge at Hampton Court, 1874 Molesey Weir -
Morning, 1874 Regatta at Hampton Court, 1874 Regatta at Molesey,
1874 Snow on the Road Louveciennes, 1874 Under the Bridge at
Hampton Court, 1874 Meadow, 1875 Flood at Port-Marly, 1876.Muse
d'Orsay Small Meadows in Spring, c. 1881 View of Saint-Mamms,
(circa 1880).The Walters Art
Museum.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sisley
Thelandscape paintingsof Alfred Sisley occupy an inviolable
position in the history of early Impressionism. His depictions of
the Thames atHampton Court, the Seine in flood, the snow bound
suburbs of Paris are indispensable to an account of Impressionist
landscape painting in the 1870s. Indeed, they are so fundamentally
representative of our notion of what constitutes 'pure'
Impressionism, that the re-evaluation of the movement in recent
years has often left Sisley stranded outside it. This has greatly
added to the comparative neglect of his work. He is famous but not
known, admired but little studied. Many accounts of Impressionism
treat him perfunctorily; assessments run on the comfortable premise
that he was a marvellous painter for two or three years but became
a victim of his style and collapsed into an irreversible decline.
... While there can be little doubt that thebest paintingswere made
in the 1870s, there are vigorous and beautiful works from the years
that followed.Other reasons exist for Sisley's shadowy reputation.
Most obviously, his output appears less substantial and less
clearly directed than that of his associates
-Monet,RenoirandPissarro. Their later evolutions, especially those
of Monet and Renoir, drew Impressionism into the earlytwentieth
century. Sisley's death at the very end of the nineteenth assumes a
symbolic resonance. It signals the dissolution of the kind of
Impressionism to which he had devoted hisworking life. His
relatively early death put an end to the unmistakable signs of
renewal in his painting of the 1890s: a late flowering, withered
almost before it had begun.Compared with that of his colleagues,
Sisley's development was neither complex nor dramatic. The
personality his work exudes is reticent and sober, marked, as the
American painterMarsden Hartleywrote, by a 'solemn severity'. The
influences digested in his early years, both English and French,
served their purpose throughout his life. There are, of course,
recognizable phases within his work, for Sisley was a highly
conscious artist. Yet once the excitement of the Impressionist
moment was over, his pace was leisurely and his evolution unforced.
It is tempting to attribute this quiet self-effacement to his
English origins, through which an innate insularity was transferred
to the Ile de France. Several of his forebears, for example, were
conspicuous for a plucky adventurousness followed by bourgeois
consolidation. The pattern of Sisley's evolution is much the
same.Recent Impressionist studies have been devoted, for the most
part, to an investigation of subject matter and iconography -
Sisley's work does not readily submit itself to such analysis.
There is almost no overt social or political content in his
painting, no informative celebration of contemporary people, no
agrarian comment or escapist Mediterranean allure. It is true that
he was not attracted to aspects of urban life, as found in Renoir,
nor to the ideological impulses that inform, for example, much of
Pissarro's work. For most of his life Sisley was content to depict
the traditional activities of countryside and rural waterways as
they impinged on the landscape. In the 1870s, working in all the
places whose names recur in the early history of Impressionism -
Bougival, Argenteuil, Marty, Louveciennes - Sisley resolutely
turned his back on theirsocial life. He concentrated instead on
undisturbed or only distantly animated aspects of his surroundings.
This has led to an underestimation of those elements of the
everyday scene which do, in fact, appear intermittently throughout
his painting. There are many moments of private leisure - there are
trains, factory chimneys, pleasure boats and barges, a forge, a
flood rescue, quayside activities; there are the flags and crowds
of regattas on the Thames and of Paris effete at the Point du Jour.
None of these should be omitted from an account of Sisley's role
within Impressionism viewed in its social context.No substantial
biography of Sisley has yet been written. His life is not well
documented and this has furthered his neglect. Although he wrote
many letters, few are personally revealing or of exceptional
interest. There are no journals or autobiographical writings and he
died before celebrity might have sent interviewers and
photographers to his door. At the same time, the change in his
character from high spirits and sociability to a seemingly
misanthropic and suspicious demeanour accounts for the virtual
disappearance of his name from the memoirs and letters of several
of his early friends. As a result of thisprofil perdu, the few
facts about Sisley's life that have long been taken for granted
have not been thoroughly examined. Since the publication in 1959 of
Francois Daulte's catalogue raisonne, almost no research has
investigated Sisley's life - misstatements and misconceptions
abound. Several of these have been corrected...and use has been
made of unpublished letters and archival documents. These modify or
illuminate at many points the biographical outline of Sisley and
set his work in a more palpable context. New material has shaped
the narrative and deepened that sense of Sisley as resourceful,
proud and solitary. In a passage on the landscapes ofRuisdael,
written in 1875, Eugene Fromentin wrote of the Dutch painter asa
dreamer, one of those men of whom many exist in our own day but who
were rare in Ruisdael's time - one of those lonely wanderers who
flee from the town, frequent the outskirts, who love the country
without exaggeration and describe it without phrases, who are made
uneasy by distant horizons but are charmed by open country, moved
by a shadow and enchanted by a shaft of sunlight.He goes on to
suggest the sombre reasonableness of Ruisdael's melancholy, the
product neither of self-indulgent immaturity nor of the fretful
self pity of old age. No one familiar with Sisley's painting or his
character can fail to be reminded of them by Fromentin's words.
They were written in the year when Sisley produced some of his
finest paintings, and at the start of one of the most discouraging
periods of his life. He was at the height of his powers, superbly
endowed with gifts that place his achievements on a level with
those of Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. In particular, he faultlessly
conveys those startling moments of perception in which a scene is
removed from its surroundings, however commonplace, and steeped in
an undefinable emotion - the Marly aqueduct, the flooded inn by the
Seine, a passer by in the snow, a girl swinging in an orchard, a
wave breaking over a rock on the shore. He has the power of
transcribing such scenes as though be had been searching for them
all along, and yet he reveals them with an air of diffidence that
disarms while it captivates. It is at such moments that Sisley
enlarges our perception of Impressionist painting and joins the
ranks of the great European
landscapists.http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/sisley.html