The illustrious Claude-Joseph Vernet (d. 1789) specialised in marine subjects. Through the Marquis de Marigny, brother of Mme de Pompadour, he received the commission to paint the ports of France for Louis XV, on which these subjects are based.
A tapestry from the same series, dated 1776, was sold anonymoulsy, Drouot Estimations, 7 November 1997, lot 160, while two further of the same set are illustrated in D. Boccara, Les Belles Heures de la Tapisserie, Milan, 1971, pp. 210-211.