A Mediterranean port with washerwomen and figures at a fountain

Claudot de Nancy was a pupil of Jean Girardet (d. 1778) and André Joly (1706 - after 1781), and a close friend of Claude Joseph Vernet (1714-1789). As attached as he was to his native Lorrain, neither Vernet nor Girardet managed to persuade him to relocate to Paris, a move which would have been fruitful to his career. His oeuvre reflects the taste for romantic landscapes fashionable in France in the late 18th century, enriched by antique ruins typical of Italian vedutisti of the 17th century.
The present composition follows the picture painted by Vernet in circa 1750 for the architect Soufflot, and sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 16 June 1989, lot 384 (see Ingersoll-Smouse, Joseph Vernet, Paris, 1926, I, p. 57, no. 271).