Night: Seaport by Moonlight

Although Vernet trained in Rome as a pupil of the landscapists Pannini and Locatelli, affirmed masters of the veduta (townscape), he was also influenced by the classical landscapes of Poussin and Claude Lorrain, and the seascapes of the seventeenth-century northern landscapists. For the pavilion of the Château of Louveciennes of the Comtesse du Barry, he did a series of four paintings representing the four parts of the day, Night being one of them. Working from sketches made from nature, he particularly sought original angles and special light effects.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 16 minutes): Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight)