Sisley, Alfred (1839-1899)
La Tamise à Hampton Court (The Thames at Hampton Court)
1874
Oil on canvas, 34.93 × 59.69 cm
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
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After a short visit to South Kensington, England, in July 1874, Sisley traveled up the Thames River to Hampton Court, the site of a royal palace, where he stayed until early October. Jean-Baptiste Faure, a baritone with the Opéra-Comique and an avid collector of Impressionist paintings, accompanied him on the trip. Easily accessible by rail from London, Hampton was a very popular resort for residents of the city. Although this scene is devoid of people, several of Sisley’s other paintings at Hampton depict swimmers, walkers, and boaters. The loose brushstroke and blatantly denotative colors of this scene are characteristic of Sisley’s textbook approach to Impressionist landscape painting, and his works from this stay along the Thames are among his most iconic. (VMFA)