Four Times of the Day (Joseph Vernet)

Artist

Joseph Vernet was considered the leading French artist of his time in his genre, marine art and landscape painting. Claude Joseph Vernet come from a family of French painters: he was the son of a decorative painter, and his son Antoine-Charles-Horace Vernet, called Carle Vernet (1758–1836), and his grandson Horace Vernet (1789–1863) were known as military painters. Vernet lived in Italy for twenty years, from 1734 to 1753, where he had an atelier in Rome. His style was influenced by the Italian 17th-century painters Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. His landscapes and especially seascapes were celebrated for their romantic qualities. Upon his return to France, a series of marine paintings were commissioned from him around 1753 by the French king Louis XV to depict a series of seaports, of which fifteen paintings were executed. This project lasted for about ten years, and until 1765 he traveled around the country painting seascapes around France, eventually abandoning the project unfinished.

Paintings

In the series of four paintings, the first depiction is entitled Morning. The painting shows a misty morning scene with fishermen with his boat. The second painting, entitled Midday depicts a sudden, unexpected storm. The painting Evening shows women bathing and washing their clothes. The final scene shows a rocky inlet, with fishermen drying their nets while others are gathered round a fire. The scenes depicted in these four paintings were Vernet's favourite scenes that he painted in different settings throughout his career.