Landschaft Mit Burgruine 1756

Claude-Joseph Vernet painted this landscape with a castle ruin sometime in the 18th century. Vernet was celebrated for his depictions of harbours and shipwrecks. But here we have a different scene, one of a humble ruin. The composition is arranged to create maximum visual impact. Our eye is drawn through the mouth of a cave, across the water, to the elevated castle ruin and then to the sublime mountain in the background. Vernet was working at a time when wealthy aristocrats took tours of Europe, and artists made paintings to cater to this tourist trade. What, then, is Vernet saying about the social order of his time? Does he mourn the collapse of feudalism and the rise of a new social order? Or does he invite us to think about the transience of all social institutions? To learn more about Vernet we can consult the records of the French Royal Academy. These archives help us to place Vernet in the cultural landscape of his time.