An Italian Harbour in Stormy Weather
c. 1740 - 1750
Look at the sheer drama in this stormy seascape, where Claude-Joseph Vernet captures a chaotic moment of sailors desperately hauling a small boat onto the rocky shore while massive waves crash against the cliffs behind them. In the distance, a larger ship battles the rough waters near a lighthouse, all set beneath a brooding, cloud-filled sky. Vernet was a master of atmospheric effects, and his seascapes were so popular that King Louis XV actually commissioned him to paint all the major ports of France, making you almost feel the cold sea spray just by looking at it!