NotesBetween 1754 and 1765 Joseph Vernet completed fifteen paintings in fulfillment of a royal commission, a series of views of the ports of France. Vernet abandoned the project, however, before taking on the views of Brest. This port, a major naval station, had been rebuilt with government support after fires in 1742 and 1744 and the Secretary of State for the Navy, Bourgeois de Boyne, was eager to present the King with evidence of progress made. He hired Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe, who asked to have his son Henri Joseph accompany him to assist him with the project; the two had been working in close collaboration from 1769 and would continue to do so until 1778. They jointly produced six watercolor/gouache studies of the port of Brest between January 18 and April 2, 1773, a foundation for the commission received from de Boyne to "create for the Department of the Navy all the views of the interior and of the exterior of the port and village of Brest." According to Ref. Maillet-Chassagne and Château-Thierry 2004, the six direct studies of Brest (now Louvre, Paris) are the basis for ten finished views of the port (seven gouaches and three oil paintings), including our picture. The topographical studies in the Louvre were supplemented by other studies made "sur le vif" of figures animating the banks of the seaport.

In a letter of December 30, 1774, from Louis Nicolas to Antoine de Sartine, who replaced de Boyne as Secretary of State for the Navy, four finished paintings are mentioned, three by Louis Nicolas and one by Henri Joseph. Two of these had already been delivered, including the one by Henri Joseph made for "le cabinet de Votre Grandeur à Versailles." The latter could be the MMA painting but is more likely to be the very large oil painting of the port (125 x 193 cm) dated 1774, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brest.

It is generally assumed that the oil paintings of the harbor produced after the Van Blarenberghes' return, ours and the large picture in Brest, are the work of Henri Joseph, as Louis Nicolas is not believed to have practiced oil painting. A third oil painting representing the harbor appears in sales in Angers (December 16, 1997) and Paris (May 14, 2001) and is catalogued in Ref. Maillet-Chassagne and Château-Thierry 2004 as no. 3-811-14ter; it has been heavily retouched. The numerous gouache paintings of the harbor appear to be the work of Louis Nicolas, including a variant of our painting in gouache (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brest), signed and dated van Blarenberghe 1776.

Our picture follows the 1773 Louvre study that bears the inscription, "Tableau du port de Brest pris de la mâture (L'avant-port de Brest)." "La mâture," or the masting machine, was a contrivance that lowered a mast timber into a ship through holes cut in each deck and then secured it to the keel.

Provenance[probably Lebrun, Paris, until 1806; probably his sale, Lebrun, Paris, September 29, 1806, no. 158, "Blaremberg. La Vue intérieure du Port de Brest, oû l'on remarque différens bâtimens de guerre, dans l'un desquels se fait un embarquement de troupes. Grand nombre de personnages sont sur les quais, & dans le fond s'offre des vaisseaux en construction . . . . — Hauteur 27 pouces & demi, largeur 39 pouces & demi (29.2 x 42 in.)," for Fr 154 to ?Richard]; [Baur, Paris, in 1864]; Vincent Astor, New York (bought in Brest; 1920s–d. 1959); Mrs. Vincent Astor, New York (1959–78)