The Thames at Hampton Court

In July 1874 Sisley crossed the Channel with Jean-Baptiste Faure, a baritone and an early collector of the Impressionists, who paid for the journey. Sisley settled his share in kind, with six paintings. The two lodged in South Kensington at first, then moved out to the Castle Inn near Hampton Court, and he stayed by the water until early October, working the same stretch of non-tidal Thames at East Molesey across some 16 canvases.

The reach he chose was a busy one. Trains had been carrying Londoners out to Hampton Court since 1849, the Molesey regatta had been founded the season before, and sailing boats and rowing crews crossed his view all summer. He signed and dated this canvas in the lower left corner, and he was back in France before the winter.