Claude-Joseph Vernet

Claude-Joseph Vernet - Study trip to Rome; a fondness for maritime motifs

Claude-Joseph Vernet was born in Avignon on 14th August 1714. The son of the talented decorative painter Antoine Vernet, he was already assisting his father in his work from the age of 14, and his father's connections made it possible for the budding artist to become an apprentice to the painter Louis René de Vialy in Aix-en-Provence. Claude-Joseph Vernet proved to be an extremely erudite pupil, attracting the attention of various art patrons and recommending himself for a study trip to Rome, where the then 20-year-old artist studied with the marine painter Bernardino Fergioni and his pupil Adrien Maglard. Vernet's interest in maritime motifs had been awakened by his previous sea voyage, during which he had witnessed a whale sighting off Marseille. The young Frenchman also quickly made a name for himself in the artistic milieu of Rome and in 1743 was accepted into the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca initiated by Pope Gregory XIII.

A celebrated painter in the service of the French crown

Claude-Joseph Vernet maintained his fondness for maritime motifs in his private life and married the Englishwoman Virginia Parker, the daughter of a captain of the papal fleet. Although he had established himself as an artist in Rome, his connection to his native France was not broken: the Marquis de Marigny arranged a commission for the artist from the French King Louis XV, which took Vernet back to Paris. Here he was commissioned to produce a total of 24 views of France's most important harbours, thereby illustrating the Grande Nation's claim as the dominant maritime power. In the following years, he became a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Paris and by 1763 had completed 15 of the 24 paintings ordered. This also meant that the artist worked almost exclusively in the service of the king, occasionally also for members of the French nobility and selected clients from England. As a respected painter, he was able to move into a flat and a studio in the Louvre.

A passionate portraitist of the stormy sea

As well as his large cycle of paintings of French military and commercial harbours, Claude-Joseph Vernet also produced numerous seascapes in which he showed a preference for dramatic depictions of raging storms and shipwrecks. The figures he added to his pictures as staffage reflected the actual hustle and bustle that Vernet had observed during his visits to the harbours and on various voyages. Despite Vernet's keen powers of observation, these were never simple studies; rather, the artist focused on the powerful composition. The art of the Italian master Giovanni Paolo Panini exerted a strong influence on Vernet, but it is uncertain whether the two painters met in person in Rome. 

Claude-Joseph Vernet died on 3rd December 1789 in Paris. His son Antoine Charles Horace Vernet and his grandson Horace Vernet followed in his footsteps as painters. His son-in-law was the architect Jean-François Chalgrin.