A Storm Near A Rocky Coast
1784
Claude-Joseph Vernet was the 18th-century master of the 'sublime'—that mix of beauty and terror you get from nature. Here, he stages a dramatic showdown between a dark, raging storm and a patch of peaceful blue sky. Tiny figures in the foreground scramble in panic near a shipwreck, looking like actors on a stage, which makes sense since Vernet loved theatrical compositions. He was so good at painting the sea that King Louis XV commissioned him to paint all the major ports of France, though this specific scene feels like a wild, imaginary adventure rather than a calm harbor.
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