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 Claude-Joseph Vernet is thought by some critics to be the most famous and successful landscape and marine painter of eighteenth-century France. He is noted for creating landscapes with dramatic atmospheric effects of the sky and weather, along with masterful detailing of foreground figures. Vernet, a native from Avignon, first studied with his father who, also was an artist, then he went on to paint with Philipe Sauvan, in Avignon. In 1734 Vernet went to Rome and painted landscapes of the local countryside and seacoast influence by the works of Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Doughet and Salvator Rosa and by 1740 he had established a list of patrons to include artists Placido Costanzi and Sebastiano Conca and important Frenchmen, Italians and Englishmen. Vernet often painted pairs and sets of four canvas reflecting times of day with differing weather effects
In 1743, Vernet was praised by the Roman community by being elected to the Accademia di S Luca and in 1753 he returned to France and became a member of the Academie Royale. These accolades resulted in his works being enthusiastically displayed at the Salon in 1753 and further promoted his work in Paris which led to a major commission from then reigning King of Franc, Louis XV, to paint various ports of France. The Ports of France was one of 15 (2 in Paris, Louvre; 13 on dep. Paris Mus. Mar.) which were exhibited at the Salon between 1755 and 1765. For the remainder of Vernet's life he continued to paint various Italianate landscapes, calm seaports, stormy coasts, shipwrecks and moonlit harbors, such as Storm with a Shipwreck (London, Wallace).
Sources include:
getty.edu
nga.gov
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