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Lot Essay
This previously unrecorded pair of canvasses by Vernet can be dated, on stylistic grounds, to the period 1740-5. Vernet had moved to Rome in 1734 and was to be based there until 1753. While he had supplied three pictures for 'M. Dania anglois', i.e. James Dagnia (c. 1708 - 1755), as early as 1738, it was only from 1745, the year of his marriage to Virginia Parker, that Vernet began to exploit the possibilities of Grand Tour patronage. His Irish father-in-law, Mark Parker (c. 1698 - 1775), had been employed in the papal navy, but was also active as an antiquary, and thus in a good position to help to secure commissions until his banishment from Rome in 1749.
The year of Vernet's marriage brought a sequence of orders from travellers on the Grand Tour that were duly recorded in his Livre de Verité. Dr. John Clephane ('M. Cloisen'), William Drake of Shardeloes, 'M. Martin Anglois' - who is presumably to be identified with the Irish Mr. Martin recorded with a fellow Irishman, Brown, in Venice in 1744, Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, John Bouverie, the noted collector, and the 6th Earl of Mountrath. Thereafter English names occur regularly: James Tilson, Philip Gell, Lord St. John, Sir William Lowther, Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh among others. In addition to Martin, Leeson and Mountrath, Vernet worked for other Irish patrons, Thomas Dawson, later 1st Viscount Cremorne, James Caulfield, 4th Viscount, later 1st Earl of Charlemont, Ralph Howard, later 1st Earl of Wicklow and Joseph Henry of Straffan.
These pictures are of the standard large size, termed 'toiles d'empereur', by the artist. Because he specialised in supplying pendants of contrasting character and was given much latitude in his choice of subjects, which are thus not always specified in the list of 'Ouvrages qui me sont ordonnez' that was begun in 1735, the original ownership of the pair cannot be established: moreover a paucity of recorded commissions in the years prior to 1745 may imply that Vernet had at times to paint pictures with a view to finding purchasers after completion, before Mark Parker's support meant that his work was in more consistent demand.
The year of Vernet's marriage brought a sequence of orders from travellers on the Grand Tour that were duly recorded in his Livre de Verité. Dr. John Clephane ('M. Cloisen'), William Drake of Shardeloes, 'M. Martin Anglois' - who is presumably to be identified with the Irish Mr. Martin recorded with a fellow Irishman, Brown, in Venice in 1744, Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, John Bouverie, the noted collector, and the 6th Earl of Mountrath. Thereafter English names occur regularly: James Tilson, Philip Gell, Lord St. John, Sir William Lowther, Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh among others. In addition to Martin, Leeson and Mountrath, Vernet worked for other Irish patrons, Thomas Dawson, later 1st Viscount Cremorne, James Caulfield, 4th Viscount, later 1st Earl of Charlemont, Ralph Howard, later 1st Earl of Wicklow and Joseph Henry of Straffan.
These pictures are of the standard large size, termed 'toiles d'empereur', by the artist. Because he specialised in supplying pendants of contrasting character and was given much latitude in his choice of subjects, which are thus not always specified in the list of 'Ouvrages qui me sont ordonnez' that was begun in 1735, the original ownership of the pair cannot be established: moreover a paucity of recorded commissions in the years prior to 1745 may imply that Vernet had at times to paint pictures with a view to finding purchasers after completion, before Mark Parker's support meant that his work was in more consistent demand.