Completed Continental European after 1800, Scotland: Artists and Subjects 9 Is this view, by Le Sidaner, of Gerberoy in North East Picardy?

I join you a reference of the reprint of the catalog published in 1905 for the Goupil's Gallery exhibition and I suggest you to contact Yann Farinaux Le Sidaner, great great grand son of the painter; he published a life of the artist and he could give you an answer.
Sincerely yours.
Jean Pierre Cappoen, M.D. preparingat Lille University (France) a Ph.D on Henri Harpignies (1819-1916) a French landscapist.

capjpier@numericable.fr

This is not the same picture as the one mentioned by Martin Hopkinson. That picture is here:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/le-sidaner-moonlight-at-gerberoy-n03657

While Le Sidaner painted many views of Gerberoy, the Paisley picture shows a seaside or riverside setting, neither of which would fit that excessively pretty village.

It is possible that this painting depicts the town of Gravelines, in the Nord department in France, which is located on the coast 15 miles southwest of Dunkirk. Like the pointillist Seurat, Le Sidaner painted many scenes in Gravelines and the surrounding district, a composite of some of which is attached.

If it is Gravelines, it almost certainly depicts the sea canal that flows from the town past the villages (now suburbs) of Grand-Fort-Philippe and Petit-Fort-Philippe. The painting appears to show a breach - possibly due to a unexpectedly high spring or autumn tide or the consequences of a storm - of the sea wall that divides the canal from one of these two places. A composite of attached images will show this relationship very clearly, and a comparison with New Orleans and its vulnerability to sea breaches is not unreasonable.

Equally so, what seem like giant haystacks in the painting are in fact the sails of old Gravelines trawlers, two photographs of which can be seen in that second attached composite

Perhaps the Goupil Gallery's catalogue, for Sidaner's 'Pictures and Pastels' exhibition, lists a work that would fit this proposition.

The word 'breach' above might more correctly be replaced by 'overflowing' or 'inundation'.

Searching further, the Goupil Gallery's catalogue is available here to read in its entirety. This discussion's work is not illustrated.

https://archive.org/details/henrilesidanerso00lesi_0

I don't think it's Gerberoy which I have visited a couple of times when a friend lived there close to le Sidaner's former house and it's more likely Gravelines or other French coastal location. I also have a picture signed by le Sidaner of the Salute in Venice but which was immediately dismissed by Yann le Sidaner as a fake. It was acquired in Chiswick - Le Sidaner stayed in London when the Goupil exhibitions were on (1906/1907) so it's possible his pictures found their way here and the finish is similar to the Paisley picture.

Although the exact location has not yet been verified, we can conclude that it is not Gerberoy. I would suggest that the style of this work is very different to the Gravelines pictures illustrated above, but Le Sidaner obviously painted in other watery locations, such as Bruges and Nemours in the early 1900s. If there are no further comments I recommend that we draw this discussion to a close.