An estuary with fisherfolk on a cliff; and A capriccio of a Mediterranean port with the Castel Sant' Angelo and fisherfolk on the shore, and a moored Dutch man-o'-war

The godson of Adriaen van der Cabel, from whom he learnt figure painting, Manglard travelled to Rome in 1715, where he spent much of his time making studies of ships. His skill as a marine painter was such that he soon had such prestigious clients as Philip, Duke of Parma, and the Rospigliosi family in Rome. In 1735 he was accepted into the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome and a year later by the Académie Royale in Paris.

The present pictures are rare examples of works by the artist on panel, and can be dated to his early activity in Italy. Their style is still deeply rooted in that of his godfather van der Cabel and Claude Lorrain and can be compared with his pictures painted in 1726 for the King of Sardinia (Pinacoteca Sabauda, inv. no. 347; S. Maddalo, Adrien Manglard (1695-1760), Rome, 1982, pp. 99-100, nos. 5-6, illustrated). Throughout his career Manglard concentrated on seascapes, developing his own style by accommodating Northern realism within the classical idealism of Claude; this he passed on to Claude-Joseph Vernet, who may have trained in his studio.