Claude Joseph Vernet's Shipwreck

Oil on Canvas 1772

Claude Joseph Vernet

French 1714-1779

Patron's Permanent Fund and Chester Dale Fund

2000.221

Claude Joseph Vernet was one of the most artistic French landscape and marine painters in Europe during the seventeenth century. Throughout his successful career, Vernet made sketching trips within Rome and along the Mediterranean coast capturing scenes that reflect his most famous works of art (National Gallery of Art, 2005). During the age of Enlightenment, he received many requests for his art work. His paintings were such a success because his work seemed to portray a wide variety of scenes and images that were presented in the unpredictable world of nature during this time.

The painting I chose titled, The Shipwreck, was one of Vernet's most famous art pieces in the 1700's. This particular painting expresses a wild scene of destruction and terror as an intense thunderstorm sinks and destroys a sailing ship. The setting of the painting takes place along a rocky seacoast most likely between the 1700's considering the design of the character's garments, the old Victorian vessel and the secreted castle in the background. The violent winds from the storm fling sailors from the ship, giving them a chance to reach the shore for survival or cause them to drown in a fight against the powerful arms of the sea. The characters in the painting show signs of distress and despair as they struggle to save themselves and others against the raging weather.

The composition of features embrace the mood and the form of the painting, making it seem as though Vernet created objects in the seascape to translate these certain characteristics. For example, the characters on the beach suggest that the mood must be

fear-provoking since their facial expression transmit feelings of stress caused by the storm. In the foreground of the painting, a woman leans up against a rock with her head tilted back as if she were saying her last goodbyes to the world. Men leap into the air and grab a hold of the ship's towing line to allow the rest of the civilians to abandon the ship. Another man on the shore has his feet dug in the sand, suggesting that the barrel he is pushing towards the rocks must be heavy. Near the cliffs, Vernet intensifies the form by placing crashing waves and blowing leaves. In the distance, another ship caught in distress by the storm appears less distinct and washed out from the scattered light in the background. As the light hit's the sea, it reflects off the water which in turn drowns out the dark area of the ship's color. This outward form affects the light, making it less visible in contrast to the foreground.

Another characteristic that displays form, mood and reality in the painting is movement.