Charles-François de Lacroix, 'A Seaport', about 1760

This scene is set in an imaginary Mediterranean port facing south into a gentle breeze that scarcely ruffles the sea. The sun is nearly setting, tingeing the clouds with a hazy peachy light. A gentleman and two finely dressed ladies are standing on the harbour, which is also peopled with turbaned sailors and merchants. A launch with a covered seating area is being prepared by the steps, perhaps to carry the party to one of the ships moored in the harbour. The flag on the launch, with its seven blue-and-white horizontal stripes, may be the French merchant flag. The ship may be a Dutch East Indiaman, although, if so, its flag is mistakenly displayed upside down.

The coat of arms on the wall to the right could be that of Marseille or Toulon, but no colours are given here to enable a certain identification. It may also be the coat of arms of the city of Parma, as the painting’s first possible recorded owner, Guillaume Léon du Tillot, was chief minister of Parma from 1759 to 1771. However, the scene cannot be set in the Duchy of Savoy as it was landlocked. The lighthouse is close to those included in many paintings by Vernet and is similar to his drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna, of a lighthouse in Naples. The whole scene, typical of Vernet and his followers, is a composite of relocated elements.

Since the lighthouse, the fortification and the jetty appear in many of Vernet’s compositions from throughout his career it is not surprising that this painting was bought and for many years displayed as an authentic work by him. In 1957 the attribution to Vernet was rejected and it was suggested that the painting was by Charles-François de Lacroix, one of his followers. The works of Charles-François de Lacroix were criticised during his own lifetime for being too similar to those of Vernet, although he was not the only artist working in Vernet’s style. It may possibly be by a relative of Charles-François de Lacroix, called Grenier or Grenier de Lacroix, who worked with him in Italy and who was probably a collaborator in Vernet’s studio in Rome before Vernet left for France in 1753. However, the faces of the figures on the right are closer to those by Charles-François de Lacroix than those by Grenier.

Stylistically the warm tones of this painting, the soft contrasts of light and relatively loose brushwork suggest that it was made in about the same period as the painting on copper by Charles-François de Lacroix signed and dated 1758 that was sold on 14 April 2016 at Christie’s, New York, and a Seaport at Sunset signed and dated 1765 in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon. This suggests a date of around 1760 for our painting. It may be the pair to a signed and dated lost pendant painting described as a Seaport by La Croix sold at the sale of Jean-Baptiste-Laurent Boyer de Fonscolombe in Paris in 1790.