A Landscape at Sunset with Fishermen returning with their Catch ('Calme')

In the summer of 1772, as Russia, Prussia and Austria were carving off the first slices of his kingdom, Stanislas Augustus, king of Poland, ordered a pair of seascapes from Joseph Vernet through an agent named Billon. The payments came late. In March 1773 Vernet, citing the delay, offered the pictures instead to the banker Henry Hoare, who was buying for Robert Clive, the Clive of India. This is the calm half of the pair. Fishermen come ashore with their catch on a summer evening, while a newly arrived ship is towed into the harbour by two launches and sailors up in the rigging take in its sails. The painter supplied the oak frames too, praised their plain and noble taste, and charged about 200 francs for each. The pair stayed with Clive's family until 2003 and came to the National Gallery the following year.