Horace Vernet
Claude Joseph Vernet was considered the leading French artist of his time in his genre, marine art and landscape painting. He came from a family of French painters: he was the son of a decorative painter, and his son Antoine-Charles-Horace Vernet, Carle Vernet (1758–1836), and his grandson Horace Vernet (1789–1863) were known as military painters. Vernet lived in Italy for 20 years, 1734 to 1753, where he had an atelier in Rome. His style was influenced by the Italian 17th-century painters Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. His landscapes and especially seascapes were celebrated for their romantic qualities. Upon his return to France, a series of marine paintings were commissioned from him around 1753 by the French king Louis XV. This was to depict a series of seaports, of which 15 paintings were executed. The project lasted for about 10 years, and until 1765 he traveled around France painting seascapes, eventually abandoning the project unfinished.