The River Bank or Geese

The River Bank or Geese is among the very few prints Sisley made in his lifetime — Loys Delteil's catalogue raisonné of his graphic work records only six lithographs in total, making each an exceptional object within his output. The work was published by the dealer Ambroise Vollard in Paris as part of L'Album des Peintres-Graveurs, a prestigious series of original prints by the leading Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists of the day; the edition was limited to 100, each signed in pencil by Sisley. Alfred Sisley was born in Paris in 1839 to English parents and spent most of his career in France, where he trained alongside Monet, Renoir, and Bazille in Charles Gleyre's studio from 1862. He remained throughout his life the most single-mindedly landscape-focused of the Impressionists, working almost exclusively outdoors. Despite critical admiration, Sisley struggled financially for most of his career and died in Moret-sur-Loing on 29 January 1899, just months after his wife's death and two years after making this print. His reputation and the prices of his work rose sharply after his death. The lithograph entered the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1942 through the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams.