Joseph VERNET Avignon, 1714 - Paris, 1789 Landscape, morning effect Oil on panel Bears the initials 'J. V' lower left Bears the date '1756' in ink on the reverse Landscape, morning effect, oil on panel, bears initials and date, by J. Vernet 24.50 x 32.50 cm (9.65 x 12.80 in.) Provenance: Collection of Monsieur Aubert, jeweller to the Crown (with its counterpart, forming a pair on the two parts of the day mentioned by Vernet as having been made from the date of June 1772. Only one was paid on 6 November 1771, 3000 livres); Sale, Paris, by A. J. Paillet and Me Hugues, 2 March 1786, no. 59; Collection of Mr Jean Fraissinet in the 1950s; Then by descent; Private collection, Geneva Bibliography: Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, 'Joseph Vernet (1714 - 1789), peintre de marine: Etude critique suivie d'un catalogue raisonné de son œuvre peint', Paris, 1926, t. II, p. 21, no. 937, fig. 237 (the engraving): "a stone bridge and in the foreground a large tree, beside which is a peasant woman dressed in red and a man angling". Comment: This attractive landscape by Joseph Vernet has the particularity of being painted on wood, a medium to which the painter only occasionally resorted, which makes our work a rare and remarkable object. Our painting, depicting the crossing of a stone bridge in the early hours of the morning, was made for Monsieur Aubert, a crown jeweller, along with its counterpart depicting a sunset scene. From the late 1730s onwards, Vernet kept a book of commissions, which is a considerable source of information. For example, two pendants on the theme of the parts of the day appear in the livre raison published in the 19th century by Léon Lagrange. One of the commissions in June 1772 reads: "for Mr Aubert two small paintings to match two others he has by means, one of which is a landscape in the morning and the other a marine at sunset. The counterparts should be a marine in tempeste in the moonlight and the other a landscape with bathers "1. The receipts provide us with further information about the value of the works and their date of execution: "on 6 November [1771] I received from M. Aubert orfevre the sum of 300 l. for a small painting that I made for him" then in June 1772, he specifies: "in the first days of June 1772 I received from M. Aubert orfevre through the hands of my brother 600 l. for the price of two small paintings".2 Aubert kept our painting until his death, since it appears in his sale after his death on 2 March 1786 (under no. 59) and is described as follows: "(...) in the latter, we see a stone bridge, & in the foreground, a large tree beside which is a peasant woman dressed in red & a man angling". Two engravings by Jean-Philippe Le Bas and Pietro Antonio Martini, dedicated to the Duc de Cossé (figs. 1 and 2), are known from our work. By the time the painting was executed, Joseph Vernet was a fully accomplished landscape painter, having already completed his famous series of French seaports commissioned by Louis XV in 1753 and painted between 1754 and 1765. He then devoted himself to producing charming, lively compositions of fishermen, regularly painted in pairs for a discerning clientele, in which he enjoyed studying the atmospheric effects of light, air, clouds and water, sometimes on more precious supports than canvas, copper or, as in this case, on panel. 1. Léon Lagrange, Joseph Vernet et la peinture au XVIIIe siècle: les Vernet, Paris, 1864, p. 351 2. Ibid, p.367 We would like to thank Mrs Emilie Beck-Saiello for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work by means of a visual examination on 14 February 2024. Lot temporarily imported The buyer will have to pay import fees, i.e. 5.5% in addition to the hammer price, unless the lot is immediately re-exported outside the European Union. Lot in temporary importation. In addition to the commissions and taxes, and additional import fees of 5,5% of the hammer price will be charged. The import fees can be retroceded to the purchaser on presentation of written proof of exportation outside European Union.