Claude-Joseph Vernet
French, 1714–1789
Coastal Scene in Moonlight
1769
The boats and figures in this imagined Italian harbor are illuminated by cool moonlight, the warm glow of the fire, and the pale gleam from the lighthouse lamp. Vernet frequently combined realistic elements observed during his travels through Italy to create fictitious scenes. Paintings like these were immensely popular with English aristocrats on the Grand Tour—a popular cultural pilgrimage through Europe—perhaps because they evoked memories of visits to similar locations along the Italian coast.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 32 x 51 1/2 in. (81.3 x 130.8 cm) |
| Object Number | 1977.17 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by the Clark, 1977 |
| Status | Off View |
Image Caption
Claude-Joseph Vernet, Coastal Scene in Moonlight, 1769, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 1977.17
Select Bibliography
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Léon Lagrange.. Joseph Vernet et la Peinture au XVIIIe Siècle.. Paris: Didier.. 1864..
. Collection de Livrets des Anciennes Expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800.. Paris: Liepmanssöhn et Dufour.. 1869..
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Jean Seznec.. Diderot Salons, vol. 4.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.. 1967..
Else Marie Bukdahl. Diderot critique d'art, vol. 1: Théorie et pratique dans les "Alons" de Diderot.. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.. 1980.
Langres: Musée du Breuil de Saint-Germain.. Diderot et la Critique de Salon 1759-1781.. June 2-Sept. 16, 1984..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Walter E. Rex.. Diderot's Counterpoints: The Dynamics of Contrariety in His Major Works.. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation.. 1998..
