Grez-sur-Loing (, literally ''Grez on

Loing The Loing () is a long river in central France, a left tributary of the Seine. Its source is in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing, in the southwestern of the department of Yonne, and it flows into the Seine in Saint-Mammès, near Moret-sur-Loing. It ...

''; formerly Grès-en-Gâtinais, literally ''Grès in

Gâtinais Gâtinais () or Gâtine () was a province of France, containing the area around the valley of the Loing, corresponding roughly to the northeastern part of the département of Loiret, and the south of the present department of Seine-et-Marne. Unde ...

'') is a commune in the

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

department in north-central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Sights

* The Church of Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent ''(Church of Our Lady and of Saint Lawrence)'' was the church of a priory dependent on Saint Peter's Abbey in

Sens Sens () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second city of the department, the sixth in the region. It is crossed by the Yonne an ...

. It dates from the twelfth century and houses some tombs of the sixteenth century. * The Tower of Ganne, built by

Louis VI the fat Louis VI (late 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat (french: link=no, le Gros) or the Fighter (french: link=no, le Batailleur), was King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Chronicles called him "King of Saint-Denis". Louis was the first member ...

in 1127, at the same time as the castle. * The Old bridge, former bridge of Grez-en-Gâtinais built between the 12th century and the 14th century. Destroyed several times it was rebuilt identically in 1980. *

Tacot des Lacs The Tramway at Bourron ( French ''Réseau des Sablières de Bourron au Canal du Loing'') was a long gauge railway that ran from the sand pits at Bourron-Marlotte via the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez railway station to the Canal du Loing opposite ...

''(Lakes' crate)'', a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

running about lakes on plains of the

river. Grez-sur-Loing (77), pont sur le Loing 6.JPG , Grez sur Loing. Grez sur Loing-Tour de Ganne VP-20170402.jpg , Ganne Towwer Grez sur Loing-Église-20170402.jpg, Church of Our Lady and Saint Lawrence.

Art colony

It is located 70 km south of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and is notable for the artists and musicians who have lived or stayed there. The painter

Fernande Sadler Fernande Sadler (7 July 1869 – 2 December 1949) was a French painter and engraver. She established the art collection at Grez-sur-Loing and became the mayor of that town in 1945. Life Sadler was born in 1869 in Toul. left, Young Girls On The ...

became mayor and encouraged the community gathering paintings and she wrote about the artists there. The Swedish artist

Carl Larsson Carl Olof Larsson (; 28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He is principally known for his watercolors of idyllic fa ...

met his wife Karin Bergöö while they were both staying at Grez. Others include Irish artist Frank O'Meara, Swedish artists

Karl Nordström Karl Fredrik Nordström (11 July 1855 – 16 August 1923) was a Swedish painter who specialized in landscapes. From 1896 to 1920, he was Chairman of the Association of Artists ( Konstnärsförbundet). Biography His father was a police commissi ...

Emma Chadwick Emma Chadwick, née Emma Hilma Amalia Löwstädt (10 August 1855, Stockholm – 2 January 1932, Avignon), was a Swedish painter who specialized in genre scenes and portraits. Biography She was the granddaughter of , a miniature painter and ...

Julia Beck Julia Beck (20 December 1853 – 21 September 1935) was a Swedish painter and calligrapher. Biography Beck was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the daughter of Franz Beck, a bookbinder. She was first educated at the sloyd school (later Konstfack) in ...

and

Bruno Liljefors Bruno Andreas Liljefors (; 14 May 1860 – 18 December 1939) was a Swedish artist. He is perhaps best known for his nature and animal motifs, especially with dramatic situations. He was the most important and probably most influential Swedish wi ...

as well as writer

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

, the Danish and Norwegian members of the

Skagen Painters The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...

, and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

. American artists were

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

Francis Brooks Chadwick Francis Brooks Chadwick (January 1, 1850–1942/43), was an American painter active in France. He was born in Boston and studied at Harvard, and to pursue his interest in art he attended the Académie Julian in Paris. He was friends with the p ...

, Robert Vonnoh,

Edward Simmons (painter) Edward Emerson Simmons (1852-1931) was an American Impressionist painter, remembered for his mural work. Biography His father was a Unitarian minister. He graduated from Harvard College in 1874, and was a pupil of Lefebvre and Boulanger in P ...

, Will Hicox Low,

Theodore Robinson Theodore Robinson (June 3, 1852April 2, 1896) was an American painter best known for his Impressionist landscapes. He was one of the first American artists to take up Impressionism in the late 1880s, visiting Giverny and developing a close frien ...

Willard Metcalf Willard Leroy Metcalf (July 1, 1858March 9, 1925) was an American painter born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and later attended Académie Julian, Paris. After early figure-painting and il ...

, Bruce Crane, and

Kenyon Cox Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He was the designer of the League ...

. Grez is featured in many paintings by The Glasgow Boys, where the bridge over the river is clearly featured. They were resident in the village at the turn of the 20th century. Musicians also migrated to Grez-sur-Loing. The English composer

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

lived here and dictated a number of works to his

amanuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...

Eric Fenby Eric William Fenby OBE (22 April 190618 February 1997) was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works t ...

, here. Their house was portrayed in the 1968

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

film '' Song of Summer'', but it was filmed in England. Delius died in Grez on 10 June 1934. The American soprano and folk song fieldworker Loraine Wyman spent several years here starting in 1928, following her retirement from singing.

Sights

Art colony

See also