The Shipwreck
1772
Painter, French, 1714 - 1789

This dramatic scene is meant to evoke the “sublime,” a feeling that combines terror, awe, and delight. The small, frantic figures are overwhelmed by the violence of nature: the wind and waves and the jagged lightning bolt brightening the dark sky. Moonlight, the partner painting, presents a contrast: a calm, reassuring harbor, peacefully subdued by man-made architecture. Marine painting was popular in the 18th century, particularly in the British Empire, which maintained a powerful fleet of ships to secure its colonies around the globe. British aristocrats commissioned paired paintings from Vernet to decorate their country homes.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 55
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 113.5 x 162.9 cm (44 11/16 x 64 1/8 in.)
framed: 124.8 x 172.9 x 7.6 cm (49 1/8 x 68 1/16 x 3 in.) -
Accession
2000.22.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Commissioned November 1771 by Henry, 8th Lord Arundell of Wardour [1740-1808], Wardour Castle, Tisbury, Wiltshire;[1] by descent in his family;[2] (Arundell sale, at Wardour Castle, 10 September 1952, no. 144, as The Storm [paired with The Calm]). (Galerie Popoff, Paris), by 1957; private collection, France; (Marc Blondeau, Paris/Sotheby's, New York); purchased 17 February 2000 by NGA.
[1] The banker Henry Hoare II [1705-1785], who acted both as agent and patron for the artist, commissioned a pair of paintings on behalf of Lord Arundell. Completed and paid for by August 1772, the two paintings were The Shipwreck and Moonlight. They remained together until shortly after the 1952 sale; the current (2001) location of Moonlight is not known.
[2] The line of the Arundells of Wardour became extinct with the death of John Francis Arundell, 16th Baron Arundell of Wardour, who was killed in action during World War II on 25 September 1944.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
2000
Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2000-2001, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
2003
The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Altes Museum, Berlin, 2003-2004, not in cat. (shown only in Washington).
2012
Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and "The Life Line", Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2012, no. 11, fig. 10.
Bibliography
1864
Lagrange, Léon. Les Vernets. Joseph Vernet et la peinture au xviii e siècle. 2nd ed. Paris, 1864: 350, 367.
1926
Ingersoll-Smouse, Florence. Joseph Vernet, peintre de marine, 1714 – 1789. 2 vols. Paris, 1926: 2:23, nos. 954 – 955.
1952
Waterhouse, Ellis K. “English Painting and France in the Eighteenth Century.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 15 (1952): 133, repro.
2000
Washington 2000-2001. "Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century." (Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art.) Washington 2000: 46, repro., 47.
2001
Conisbee, Philip. "The Shipwreck, 1772, by Claude-Joseph Vernet." In Mélanges en Hommage à Pierre Rosenberg: Peintures et dessins en France et en Italie XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. Paris, 2001: 153-158, fig. 2.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 258-259, no. 209, color repro.
National Gallery of Art. "National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection." Selected and with commentaries by John Oliver Hand. Washington, 2004: 258-259, no. 209, color repro.
2009
Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 92, 432-435, color repro.
2012
Foster, Kathleen A. "Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and 'The Life Line'." American Art Review 24, no. 6 (November-December 2012): 88, color repro.
2015
"Art for the Nation: The Story of the Patrons' Permanent Fund." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 53 (Fall 2015):16-17, repro.
2016
Baetjer, Katharine. "Jean Pillement: Shipwrecks and the Sublime." Metropolitan Museum Journal 51 (2016): 102, fig. 4.
2018
Yin, Steph. "How Often Does Lightning Strike? More Than Artists Figured." New York Times 167, no. 57,991 (June 12, 2018): D2, color fig.
2021
Kennicott, Philip and Matthew Cappucci. "Examining the Elements of Breathtaking Art." Washington Post 144, no. 225 (July 18, 2021): E1, E10, color repro.
Inscriptions
lower left: J. Vernet / F. 1772
Wikidata ID
Q20020198