Girls Bathing at the Seaside

This painting is characteristic of the extensive oeuvre of Claude-Joseph und Jean-Antoine Vernet. Inspired by the ancient ruins of Rome, the coastal towns and the luminous atmosphere of Italy, they painted romantic harbour scenes and seascapes as well as night pieces and shipwrecks. The Residenzgalerie picture shows an unidentifiable stretch of coast, with a fortress set on a rugged cliff and a distant town on a hillside. The landscape looks Italian, though it might also suggest an imaginary bay in the south of France, which Claude-Joseph used as a setting for numerous coastal towns. From 1753, he realised a series of remarkable vedute of 15 French sea ports for King Louis XV (1710–1774).
As in all the brothers’ marine paintings, the scene is populated with small figures and often a Dutch frigate, to achieve a more vivid effect. In the foreground are four naked girls indulging in the sensuous delights of bathing. The low horizon, the reddish-yellow wisps of cloud in the sky, the sun glistening on the turquoise sea, and the play of light and shade on the shore all emphasise the romantic view of the scene.
This is precisely what his clients from all over Europe, particularly the English aristocracy, appreciated in Vernet’s paintings: the hazy view of the southern scenery, the yearning for far-away places – in the 18th century, especially Italy.
Despite the signature, this high-quality painting cannot conclusively be attributed to one particular brother, since both signed their paintings “J. Vernt”. However, the smooth brushwork and cool colouration, together with the indication of “Rome” as the location where the work was painted, do not exclude Jean-Antoine Vernet.

HABERSATTER Thomas: Vernet Claude-Joseph or Vernet Jean-Antoine, Girls bathing at the seaside, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 134