VERNET, Claude-Joseph
(b. 1714, Avignon, d. 1789, Paris)

A Seashore (detail)

1776
Oil on copper
National Gallery, London

Vernet's coastal views are always enlivened by people, who are completely of the period; they are not to be dismissed as mere staffage, because there is in them acute, vivid observation of costume and manners - and a liveliness that approximates to wit.