The Footbridge at Argenteuil

The wooden walkway in this picture was a stopgap. Argenteuil's road bridge over the Seine had been destroyed in the war of 1870, and until the town could replace it people crossed on a temporary timber footbridge. Sisley painted it in 1872, while France was still paying off the indemnity demanded by the newly proclaimed German Empire, with German troops staying on French soil until the money was raised. Two years later the timber came down and a solid bridge of stone and iron went up in its place, so this crossing stood for only a few seasons. The painting reached the French state in 1906, part of the collection that Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, a painter and art historian, handed over in one block while he was still alive so that it would not be broken up after him.