Claude Joseph Vernet

CLAUDE JOSEPH VERNET (Avignon, 1714 - Paris, 1789). "Port of Caudebec". Engraving (optical view) illuminated by hand. It presents small humidity and dirt stains. Measurements: 29 x 44 cm (print); 38 x 53 cm (paper). French painter. Vernet soon became known in the Roman artistic environment thanks to the demand for paintings of Italian views by the travellers of the Grand Tour. He combined the observation of nature with elements drawn from his imagination. Perhaps no other landscape painter knew how to include the human figure as an important part of the picture design as he did; in this respect he was influenced by Giovanni Paolo Panini, whom he probably met in Rome. His work was appreciated during Romanticism and Impressionism. His works are exhibited in the world's leading museums and in some private collections. In Spain, for example, five of his works can be found in the Museo del Prado, including Broken Landscape and View of Sorrento. The other three were part of a commission of six by the then Prince of Asturias, Charles IV, to decorate the Prince's Casita at El Escorial.