Offered by Galerie Gilles Linossier
This painting embodies all the refinement of 18th century art, the mastery of the great masters in the representation of seascapes.
Painted in oil on canvas, it is in line with the Mediterranean views which have made the fame of several renowned artists, such as Vernet here.
Through a carefully balanced composition, the work is imbued with a diverse narrative where light and detail come together to tell a story that is both elegant and captivating.
The figures in the foreground, the massive trees and the luminous sky are organized in theatrical harmony. The soft, golden light, typical of Vernet, accentuates the picturesque effect. Certain characteristics are specific to Vernet's paintings and recur regularly in his representations.
In the foreground, elegantly dressed figures are busy at the water's edge, illustrating for some a port activity and for others a social encounter typical of the period.
The characters in Vernet's works are always arranged in narrative groups, integrating a touch of elegance or everyday life, sometimes idealized.
We also find the very active little dog; always with its tail towards us, it seems to be observing the distant shore.
The background reveals a landscape bathed in light, with a sailing ship on calm waters, enriching the scene and evoking commerce and maritime adventure. Typical of Vernet's works, it presents itself slightly with its back to us, a large flag hanging from the stern and a thin, almost filamentary flag at the top of the highest mast, flying to the rhythm of the wind.
On the left, on the other side of the bank, we can notice a building identifiable as the Château Borély, emblem of Marseille (current Museum of Decorative Arts of the city).
At that time, it was only a draft sketch by Charles Louis Clérisseau, French painter and architect (1721-1820).
Louis Borély, descendant of a rich trading family, commissioned Clérisseau to build the most beautiful bastide on the rural estate of Bonneveine, so that it would be recognized as a real castle.
After the representation of the castle by Clerisseau, it was too complex and was only executed with a few changes by the architect Camtadin Esprit Brun (1710-1804) under Louis-Joseph Denis, son of Louis Borély.
This detail is undoubtedly a deep imprint of the solid relationship between the artists and the high representatives of the time.
Indeed, the castle having only been built in 1767, Vernet's version of 1755 is witness to the esteem that Vernet must have aroused at the time, allowing him to have access to unpublished information.
Nestled in the heart of the surrounding nature. this inclusion gives a precise geographical dimension to the work, which makes it valuable in the history of Marseille heritage.
The work is distinguished by its finesse in the treatment of architectural and botanical details. Often characterized, as is the case in our painting, by trees in the foreground, with sinuous branches and delicate shade, framing the scene in a theatrical way, and rocks in the opposite, as if to invite the viewer to enter this enchanting world.
One of the most important features of our table is its duplicity.
To date, three paintings of this composition have been found.
One entitled “visit to the port” in a private collection is signed and dated lower left “joseph Vernet 1755 f.” . The latter is taken as a reference in the article by Emilie Beck Saiello (current Vernet expert) published in 2018 “between Paris and Marseille, Mediterranean shores. Some reflections on the Provencal relations of Joseph Vernet with the Phocaean Academy »
A second painting “idyllic view of a rocky Mediterranean bay”, with identical composition, measuring 72.5 x 98.5 cm, was put up for auction in Monaco in 1987 with an estimate of around 61,000 – 92,000 euros. Like ours, it is, in terms of quality, a workshop painting made alongside and with Vernet.
Finally, the third painting, the one we present, is also an identical composition to that of Vernet with a few tiny differences.
As Emilie Beck Saiello mentions, “The painting (signed Vernet 1755) does not seem clearly identifiable among the commissions from the artist's book of reason, despite the presence of a character in red, quite characterized, in the foreground , which could correspond to the sponsor. (...) The quality of the work nevertheless makes it one of the most remarkable paintings of Vernet's stay in Provence. It also shows the appeal of the Phoenician landscape to amateurs and the prestige of the orders placed on the artist during his stay in Provence.
This painting is as much a characteristic demonstration of the quality of a Vernet as the educational role of the artist. Vernet, like many masters of the period, often produced an original version of a painting, which could then be reproduced or slightly modified by his workshop under his supervision, both to transmit his know-how and to meet growing demand. Mediterranean landscapes very fashionable in the 18th century. It is likely that the first version of this composition, signed and dated in 1755, served as a direct model for the other two works. The quality of these paintings demonstrates the direct intervention of the master in certain key parts, notably the sky, the effects of light and the fineness of the details.
Particular attention is paid to light, which structures the space and gives remarkable depth. The vaporous skies and the reflections on the water are emblematic elements of Vernet whose quality we can see in our painting.
The first version of this painting being produced just after his departure from Marseille, it is the illustration of this fascination for the Mediterranean works of Vernet and the numerous commissions which resulted from it. The duplicity of this composition by our painting makes our painting a fascinating testimony to the working method of Joseph Vernet (and his workshop).
This importance is underlined in particular by the disappearance in our painting of the character "in red" facing us, at the back of the social group, which we find in the main painting which could, according to Emilie Beck Saeillo, be "the sponsor.” His disappearance in our painting confirms that the latter was surely commissioned by another sponsor, Vernet would therefore possibly have asked that this character no longer be one of those represented.
These three paintings, perfectly similar in their composition but slightly distinct in their execution, embody the very essence of collective work within Joseph Vernet's workshop.
