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Joseph VERNET

France 1714 – 1789


Tempête sur la côte méditerranéenne
[Storm on the Mediterranean coast] c.1745
Painting, oil on canvas
97.8 h x 134.7 w cm
Frame 114.5 h x 152.0 w x 11.0 d cm
Purchased 2003
Accession No: NGA 2003.3.2
Provenance:
  • private collection, Ireland, since the 19th century;
  • by descent;
  • sold at auction, Christie's London, Important old master pictures, Friday 7 July 2000, lot 52;
  • with Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris;
  • from whom bought by the National Gallery of Australia, February 2003

Vernet was one of the most admired and infl uential landscape and marine painters of the 18th century, best known for his evocative coastal scenes and vivid impressions of the effects of nature. Mediterranean port, calm weather, depicting a cool early morning with the rising sun dispelling the mist over a calm Italianate harbour, stands in dramatic contrast to Storm on Mediterranean coast, where a ship driven by a violent storm is heading towards disaster on the rocks.


Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010