''The Outer Harbor of Brest'' is an 18th-century painting by Flemish artist
Henri Joseph van Blarenberghe, a member of the influential
Blarenberghe
Van Blarenberghe was the name of a dynasty of painters, originally from French Flanders (Lille), but some of the most famous descendants also lived in Paris, France. They were all descendants from Joris van Blarenberghe (1612–1670).
The first tw ...
family of painters. Done in oil on canvas, the work depicts naval activity in the French port of
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
*Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
*Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
**Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Brest, ...
. The work is one of 6 paintings van Blarenberghe produced at the behest of the French government.
History
In the 1750s, the French government commissioned Flemish painter Henri Joseph van Blarenberghe to produce a number of paintings concerning various ports in France. However, the project ended before the artist was able to produce a work concerning the port of Brest in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
. A decade later, van Blarenberghe and his son (Nicolas van Blarenberghe) were tasked by the French secretary of state for the navy to produce a set of works depicting Brest, which had recently been rebuilt; the secretary hoped that van Blarenberghe's works would show the French king the successful rebuilding of the French naval station in the port city. In total, six studies were produced by the van Blarneberghe's, one of which is ''Outer Harbor''.
[Katharine Baetjer. ''European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue''. New York, 1995, p. 376, ill.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Outer Harbor Of Brest
1777 paintings
Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ships in art