This painting was created in Joseph Vernet's studio by one of his most original pupils, the painter Jean-Baptiste-François Génillion. In this painting, Génillion gives free rein to his taste for color, presenting us with a pre-Romantic marine scene, in which the arrival of a storm is about to disrupt an elegant fishing party.
- Jean-Baptiste-François Génillion, a pupil of Joseph Vernet
Little is known about the life of Jean-Baptiste-François Génillion. Born in Paris in 1750, he trained in Vernet's studio, where he worked during the 1770s. A landscape painter, he later moved away from marine productions and presented urban landscapes (with a predilection for fire scenes). He exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance in 1779, 1781, 1782 and 1783, and at the Salon in the Louvre Palace from 1791 to 1819.
Some of his artworks are held in various public collections such as the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris and the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle.
2. Description of the painting: Joseph Vernet's influence and Génillion's specificity
In this early painting, much inspired by the works of Joseph Vernet and his studio, Jean-Baptiste-François Génillion combines several points of interest to create a lively scene, quivering in the wind as the storm breaks and the rain prepares to reach the coast.
To the left of the painting, a group of elegant visitors examine the fish offered to them by three fishermen. This group is violently illuminated by a final burst of sunlight, just as the horizon has darkened and the first lightning bolts are beginning to flash. This group is a genuine homage to his master, since it is a direct quotation from one of Vernet's youthful works, View of a Bay near Naples, a painting by Vernet dated 1740 now conserved at Apsley House (London - UK).
In contrast to this elegant group, unaware of the storm that will soon reach the coast, two slightly heavy figures (typical of Génillion's style) seem to be hurrying to leave the shore, while a fisherman's boat in the background is rushing up to reach a safe haven.
We thought it would be interesting to compare these two figures and the pinkish tones of this early composition with a more mature painting by Génillion in the Bowes Museum: the View of the Seine River looking west from the Louviers Island.
The lighthouse in the middle of our painting, inspired by the Genoa lighthouse, is also a recurring element in Vernet's pictorial production. It has been depicted, for example, in Joseph Vernet's Raised Lighthouse, a 1746 painting now in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of Geneva .[1]
In addition, the entire topographical layout depicted in the background of our painting can be directly related to the Storm over the Lighthouse, a painting attributed to Joseph Vernet and housed at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes. Dated circa 1770 - 1780, its dimensions (82 x 133.8 cm) are very similar to ours (79 x 132 cm at sight).
The depiction of the thunderstorm and the lightning bolts piercing the sky - which form the climax of our painting - reveals Jean-Baptiste-François Génillion's taste for dramatic lighting, as seen in his paintings of fires and volcanic eruptions. We have reproduced in the photo gallery two paintings by Génillion that illustrate his taste for artificial lighting, whether produced by a fire scene or by an eruption of the Vesuvius volcano.
It is also interesting to compare this depiction of a storm with an early work by Jean-François Hue (1751-1823), called the Shipwreck in the Musée de Saint Brieuc, in which the same effects of light on the horizon can also be seen. Jean-François Hue was an exact contemporary with Génillion and one of Vernet's most faithful pupils; the proximity of these two storm depictions demonstrates the reciprocal influences between the two artists and the porosity of their styles during their early years.
3. Framing
This painting was re-stained and re-framed, probably at the end of the 19th century, when it was framed in the Salvador Rosa-style gilded wood frame in which we present it today.