Coastal Scene (La nuit)

Painted by Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789); oil on canvas, 97 x 123 cm

Vernet made his reputation in Rome from 1734-53, attracting an international clientele as a specialist in marine painting. In 1750 he painted a series of four oval Times of Day destined for Joseph Leeson, later Lord Milltown. The Ashmolean painting is a rectangular replica of the fourth scene. Other Grand Tourists in Rome commissioned similar sets from Vernet in the 1750s.

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