Joseph Vernet

Background

Vernet was born in Avignon, France, on August 14, 1714. His father was Antoine Vernet, a skilled decorative painter.

Education

Joseph Vernet studied in Italy with Bernardino Fergioni. In 1734, he left Avignon for Rome to study landscape designers and maritime painters, like Claude Gellee.

Career

Starting from 1934 Vernet lived in Rome for twenty years. There he produced views of seaports, calms, storms, moonlights, and large whales, becoming extremely popular with English aristocrats. He returned to France in 1753. There King Louis XV commissioned the artist to paint the series of the seaports of France with the assistance of Pierre Jaques Volaire. The best known was the artwork The Port of Rochefort. This commission took him on an arduous route, from Antibes in the south to Dieppe in the north, from 1753 until 1765. During this time he completed fifteen large paintings.

In 1757, Joseph Vernet painted a series of four paintings titled Four Times of the Day. Throughout his life, he frequently returned to Italian themes, including his later work, A Beached Whale. Vernet settled in Paris, France and continued to paint storm scenes, shipwrecks, and moonlit harbor scenes until his death on December 3, 1789.

Achievements

• Joseph Vernet was one of the most acclaimed and successful artists in France. He received commissions from every corner of Europe. The public and critics equally admired his art, the great writer and critic Denis Diderot praised him, among others.
  
  Nowadays, the painter's works are presented in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the National Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., etc.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Cascade

  • La nuit

  • Landscape with Waterfall and Figures

  • La construction d'un grand chemin

  • Clair De Lune.

  • the Waterfalls at Tivoli

  • Tivoli Landscapes

  • Fire on the Tiber

  • Vue de Naples avec le Vésuve

  • Portrait of the Artist Simon-mathurin Lantara

  • Le port de La Rochelle

  • View of Villa Ludovisi

  • The Cascade at Tivoli

  • La Pêche En Rivière

  • The Bridge and the Castel Sant'angelo in Rome

  • Detail Showing the Ruins of the Pont Saint-bénezet from a Painting of Avignon

  • Les Abords D'une Foire.

  • Shepherd in the Alps

  • Paysage De Montagne Avec Tempête

  • Nuit - Scène de côte méditerranéenne avec des pêcheurs et des bateaux

  • L'entrée du port de Marseille

  • Vsoldiers in a Mountain Gorge, with a Storm

  • The Town and Harbour of Toulon

  • Landschaft Mit Burgruine

  • Dessinateurs Face À Une Cascade Au Pied Du Tivoli

  • Morning In Castellemmare

  • Villa at Caprarola

  • Première vue de Toulon

  • Deuxième vue du port de Bordeaux

  • Portrait of Marquess of Pombal

  • Seascape, View of Sorrento

  • Huile Sur Toile

  • Summer Evening, Landscape in Italy

  • L'entrée D'un Port De Mer Par Temps Calme

  • Vedi Titolo

  • Vue d’Avignon, de la rive droite du Rhône, près de Villeneuve

  • Bjerglandskab Med En Flod

  • The Cascades of Tivoli

  • Incendie Nocturne.

  • La Bergère Des Alpes

  • Intérieur du port de Marseille

  • Marine, soleil couchant

Membership

In 1753 Joseph Vernet became a full member of the Académie Royal.

• Académie Royal

  1753

Connections

In 1745 Vernet married an Englishwoman. He fathered a son, Carle Vernet, who followed an example of his father and became a painter.

Father:

Antoine Vernet

Son:

Carle Vernet

References

• Claude-Joseph Vernet: Drawings & Paintings
• Claude Joseph Vernet An Art Retrospective 1737
• Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1714-1789
• Danson: The Saloon Paintngs, Works by Claude Joseph Vernet, George Barret, and Elias Martin