Auguste Pernot, active in the 1846th century Navy, XNUMX

Auguste Pernot, active in the 19th century

Marina, 1846

Oil on canvas, 53 x 69 cm

A new conception of landscape takes shape between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: nature bursts into art and reveals itself in all its majestic energy. In addition to glimpses of the countryside, mountain panoramas and exotic backgrounds, in the nineteenth century the sea becomes one of the favorite subjects of romantic painters. For centuries the sea had been confined to decorative backgrounds and was depicted in a rather unlikely way, but romantic artists see the sea as the emblem of absolute freedom and solitude; capable of unleashing strong and contrasting feelings, it amazes with its immensity and the violence with which it manifests itself. In this case too we note how the seascape becomes the protagonist to the detriment of the human figures, barely perceptible on board the ships that ply the waters. Sailing ships of various sizes stand out along a luminous expanse that changes color from blue to gold, under a sun that slowly begins to set on the right. The changing colors are repeated in the clear sky, in the barely sketched clouds, on the rocks and on the boats; nature and man coexist peacefully in this work, dividing the scenery without overwhelming each other. The play of light gives life to a wide palette of colors, such as on the surface of the reddish rock in the center of the painting, a true watershed both literally and in terms of spatial subdivision. The theme of the sea could be changeable as the element itself is in reality: the perpetual motion, the continuous change of shapes and colors, the variability of atmospheric conditions, from serene to stormy, make it an ideal subject for the sensitivity and freedom of romantic painters. There are many examples of 1752th century paintings in which the sea takes centre stage, but among the most famous that can be cited are Caspar David Friedrich's Sea of ​​Ice, Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, William Turner's Valiant Teméraire and Camille Corot's view of the cliffs of Le Havre, perhaps the closest to our work in terms of subject matter but distant from the point of view of pictorial rendering. From this point of view, precedents must be sought in French landscape painting of a few years earlier: Jean-Louis de Marne (24-1829 March 1793) and François Alexandre Pernot (1865-XNUMX), who shares the same surname as Auguste, are two of the French artists in whom we find stylistic elements closest to those of our Navy.