The storm on the lighthouse, Claude-Joseph Vernet (Avignon, 1714 – Paris, 1789) workshop

Claude-Joseph Vernet (Avignon, 1714 – Paris, 1789)
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The storm on the lighthouse

1750/60

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 48 x 67 cm./ framed 77 x 93 cm.

We share a work of great pleasure, a splendid seascape painted by a talented painter from the workshop of the Frenchman Claude-Joseph Vernet, depicting a coastal view set in a Mediterranean port with the sea still stormy.

The focal point of the composition is the large lighthouse at the entrance to the port which, due to the power of the sea, was unable to bring the ship to safety when it was thrown against the rocks, while in the distance the silhouette of a second sailing ship can be glimpsed.

The canvas fully shows the pictorial, chromatic and narrative characteristics of the coastal landscapes of the great master Vernet, characterized by the inimitable atmospheric conditions always poised between dark and light, storm and calm, infusing the observer with contrasting feelings, made even more intense by a palette with vibrant and highly contrasting colours.

A similar composition, from which our author must necessarily have drawn, also attributed to the workshop of Claude Joseph Vernet, is found in France, in Nantes, at the Musée d'Arts.


The effects of the light create a visual drama in the contrast between the darkness of the storm clouds full of rain and the patch of clear sky that is opening, pierced by the shy rays of light. The true magic of the painting is precisely the very personal use that the painter makes of light and colours, with the chiaroscuro effects that accentuate its three-dimensionality and movement.

The compositional typology as well as the executive quality and attention to detail we are faced with are typical elements of the 'prototypes' created by the master, then taken up again around the middle of the 18th century by his best students.

Similar versions are found in the most important international museums and private collections, belonging to a large series of paintings that the master created, together with his collaborators, during his stay in Italy.

Vernet lived in Rome for twenty years (1734 – 1753), becoming particularly popular with English aristocrats, who stopped there on the Grand Tour. International fame followed him from Rome to France, and he added German princes to his English and French clients and Russian nobles.

The painting is in good condition with a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.

In case of purchase of the work by non-Italian customers it will be necessary to obtain an export permit which requires approximately 10/20 days, our gallery will take care of the entire phase until obtaining it. All costs of this operation are included.

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