CLAUDE – JOSEPH VERNET (attributed to) (AVIGNON, 1714 – PARIS, 1789) A Mediterranean Harbour Mid-18th century Oil on canvas 112 x 168 cm. Provenance Private collection, New York, United States. What a bustle! People are busy on this shore sorting through bundles of goods that have just been unloaded, judging by the heavily laden cart moving away to the left. In the centre, a boat filled to the brim is approaching, steered from the shore by a figure standing alone. Beside him, a sailor lounges on unloaded bales. Behind him, people are doing their accounts whilst others watch the horizon where the three-masted ship responsible for all this activity is anchored. Vernet is a master at using lighting to bring his foreground to life, here leaving a group of figures in the shadows on the right, or placing another in full light at the centre. He varies the intensity by creating areas of semi-darkness that are more or less deep. To these lighting effects, the painter adds a tiered colour palette to build depth of field. Starting with the rich browns of the foreground, he moves on to a cooler, green mid-ground, before finally framing the horizon in more ethereal bluish tones, as if the morning mist were shrouding the far shore that encloses this bay. The rosy hues of the sky place this scene in the early morning. Furthermore, Vernet creates a play of visual correspondences with the rocky arch in the foreground, which echoes the lighthouse standing at the centre of the composition, at the far end of the bay. Human endeavours thus respond to the works of Nature in a harmonious symbiosis. Joseph Vernet (1714–1789) was a French painter, draughtsman and engraver, famous for his seascapes. Originally from Avignon, he trained under the painters Louis–René Vialy (1680–1770), Philippe Sauvan (1697–1792) and Adrien Manglard (1695–1760). In 1734, Vernet set off for Rome to study the work of the old masters of landscape painting, notably Claude Lorrain (1600 – 1682), whose effects in seascapes at sunset he adopted. However, he developed his own style by introducing atmospheric effects, including inclement weather, and by devoting a great deal of space to the skies. He also skilfully brought each riverbank in the foreground to life with numerous figures and picturesque scenes of everyday life. During this trip to Rome, he built up a wide international network, which he subsequently expanded in Paris through the salons, the Royal Academy and the Masonic lodges. He used this network to promote his works and launch the fashion for seascapes across Europe. It was then, in 1753, that he received the largest royal commission for paintings of Louis XV’s reign: twenty paintings of French ports. The aim was to depict life in French ports. Only fifteen paintings were completed, between 1753 and 1765. As the commission stipulated that each painting should depict, in the foreground, the activities specific to the region, Vernet thus provided valuable insights into port life in the 18th century. During his lifetime, he was regarded as one of the greatest marine painters. From then on, Vernet was able to sell his seascapes at a profit, ‘at the price of gold’ according to the collector Pierre – Jean Mariette (1694–1774), to prestigious patrons including Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796). His works now adorn the world’s greatest museums, from the Louvre to the Hermitage, as well as museums in Oxford, Dallas and Philadelphia.