Claude-Joseph Vernet

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is unlined. The reverse of the original canvas has been treated with a non-wax adhesive. The tacking edges have been reinforced. The painting is clean and the work should be hung in its current state. There are hardly any retouches visible at all under ultraviolet light. There are a few tiny spots in the sky and what appears to be a line of losses beneath the fisherman in the lower right. However, the condition is extremely good throughout, with no weakness or abrasion to the palette.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This beautiful coastal view is an autograph replica of a work by the artist, signed and dated 1758, formerly in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg and sold from that collection in 1929.¹  The composition dates from later in Vernet’s career, when he had returned to France from Italy, and during the period he was working on his greatest commission, The Ports of France, for Louis XV.

The scene evokes a Mediterranean port at sunset with fishermen hauling in their catch and other figures observing from a terrace at left.  The sea is at almost dead calm with a view into the distance along a rocky coast and mountainous islands beyond.  A striking and unusual detail is the inclusion of the classical building with portico and dome at right, reminiscent of the Pantheon.

1.  See F. Ingersoll Smouse, Joseph Vernet, Paris 1926, Vol. I, p. 89, cat. no. 702, reproduced plate LXXI. Fig. 161.