Claude-Joseph Vernet, 'A Landscape at Sunset with Fishermen returning with their Catch', 1773.
London, The National Gallery.

Claude-Joseph Vernet, 'A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas', 1773.
London, The National Gallery.

Recent Acquisitions

'A Landscape at Sunset with Fishermen returning with their Catch'

'A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas'

1773

Claude-Joseph Vernet
(1714-1789)

NG6600 & NG6601

The National Gallery is delighted to announce that it has acquired a pair of paintings by the celebrated French master Claude-Joseph Vernet: 'A Landscape at Sunset with Fisherman returning with their Catch' and 'A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas' (1773).

Vernet was renowned for pairs of paintings showing contrasting states of nature and his works were especially sought-after by British collectors in the 18th century. Most of these have been broken up or sold abroad so that this is now the only such pair to be found in a British public collection. The pair originally belonged to the celebrated Englishman Clive of India, who bought them from Vernet in 1773.

The paintings are of outstanding aesthetic significance and are the first pair by Vernet to join the National Gallery's collection. They are acknowledged as being two of his greatest marine pictures and are in excellent condition. Their frames may well be those Vernet had made for them in Paris.

Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714 - 1789) was born in Avignon, France. He went to Italy in 1734 where he established an international clientele. He returned to France in 1753 at royal command to work on a series of views of the ports of France for Louis XV. He made his Paris Salon debut in 1746 and his paintings were enthusiastically received for the remainder of his career. British collectors and artists shared this enthusiasm and his work influenced the rise of the British school of landscape painting.

Oil on canvas, 114.5 x 163.5 cm

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