Flood at Port-Marly

Working from a boat during a catastrophic flood in the spring of 1876, Sisley painted the corner of a wine merchant’s house in the small town of Port-Marly on the banks of the Seine. Sisley’s portrayal of the sky is comparable with those of the great Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century (Jan van Goyen, Salomon van Ruysdael, Jacob van Ruisdael). Equally influential were the works of the English painters Constable and Turner, with which he had become familiar in London.