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Claude Joseph Vernet, artist
French, 1714 - 1789
The Bathers (Les Baigneuses), 1786
oil on canvas
22 1/2 x 32 1/2 (57.2 x 82.6 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Georgia Worthington 76.29

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Artist Biography: Claude-Joseph Vernet, the son of a decorative painter in Avignon, was the father of Carle Vernet and the grandfather of Horace Vernet. He studied with Philippe Sauvan, a history painter, and later with Jacques Vialy in Aix-en-Provence, where a local nobleman was impressed with his talent and in 1734 sent him to Italy. There he may have studied under Adrien Manglard, a marine and landscape specialist, but he was also influenced by the seventeenth-century masters of landscape, Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Dughet, and Salvator Rosa. During his stay in Rome, Vernet explored the Italian countryside, making studies after nature in Naples, Tivoli, and around the lakes of Nemi and Albano. He had an international clientele by 1740, was elected a member of the Academy of Saint Luke in 1743, and began to exhibit at the Paris Salons in 1746. He returned to Paris in 1753, was elected to membership in the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and through the efforts of the marquis de Marigny, the Superintendent of Royal Buildings and the brother of madame de Pompadour, received a prestigious royal commission to paint a series of the ports of France (Paris, Musee du Louvre and Musee de la Marine).By 1765 he had completed fifteen canvases, remarkable for their topographical accuracy and indefatigable imagination, and all replete with numerous figures to integrate nature into the human sphere. Upon his return to Paris he was given lodgings at the Louvre and received wide critical acclaim, especially from Diderot who preferred his work to that of Claude. Vernet's repertory includes views of ports, imaginary seascapes at sunrise and sunset, storms, shipwrecks, and landscapes-all characterized by clarity of vision and mellow lighting.~

Related Keywords
Baigneuses Les Bathers The Worthington Georgia Mrs Gift Europe France Painting canvas oil Claude Joseph Vernet French 7852312238520022 A304100 76.29 EPTG