Heck 1

Payton Heck

Eng 112-56

Patricia Bostian

Sept. 11, 2018

Joseph Vernet’s The Shipwreck as Romantic Sublime

The painting The Shipwreck by

Joseph Vernet was painted in 1759. This

Romantic Sublime painting was painted with

oil on canvas backdrop. When one looks

closely at the painting The Shipwreck (figure

1) it is clear that it is a prime example of the

Figure 1 Joseph Vernet, Shipwreck,1759, Oil on Canvas

Romantic Sublime movement. The main
Backdrop, National Gallery of Art
idea for this movement was to ensure

people to felt intense emotions, particularly those of a pleasurable terror.

The Shipwreck was painted by Joseph Vernet who started assisting his father with

paintings at the young age of 14, as stated in “Claude Joseph Vernet.” Many painters of

the 18th century were a part of the Romantic Sublime movement. The most famous

painters for this particular movement are James Ward, Edmund Burke, J.C Dahl, Karl

Bryulloy, and John Martin. The article “The Sublime” makes the movement out to be an

era of artwork so passionate that there was no room for criticism. This implies that the

shock factor and the emotions experienced by the viewers of the painting were so intense

that criticism was the last thing on ones mind.

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One feature of the Romantic Sublime movement as

stated in Art and the Sublime, is that the paintings typically

portrayed a turbulent nature stetting. In figures 2-3 one can see

that The Shipwreck is a perfect example of mother-natures

Figure 2 Crashing waves wrath. The stormy skies and crashing waves are meant to

imply a severe storm, maybe even a hurricane, has struck the villagers and passengers

of the ship. These features are intended to give one a

quick background as to what has happened. A viewer

is not stuck wondering how the passengers of the ship

wound up in the predicament. A mere glance at the

painting portrays to an observer the severity of the

Figure 3 Stormy Sky
situation. The passengers didn’t stop to smell the

roses, they were forced off the ship. One unique feature of this painting is the sun trying

to peak through the storms (figure 4). One may think this is an

odd addition to the otherwise dour and intense aspects of the

painting but this could be a representation of the idea that even in

Figure 4 Sunlight peeking
through the clouds the seemingly worst circumstances, there is always a silver lining

to look for.
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Art and the Sublime also states that a feature describing romantic sublime is that

they invoked certain emotions by temporarily overwhelming your senses with a

pleasurable terror. While this automatically makes one think of something taboo or

something that should not have been put on a painting,

what it is actually trying to convey is a situation so intense

that one cannot help but feel empathy for the depicted

figures. The paintings purpose was to also ensure a

Figure 5 People fighting for their lives
person felt emotions so intensely that they would not

notice any mistakes or find any small details to complain

about. As seen in figure 5 the emotions on the passenger’s faces are of pure terror,

they genuinely do not know if they are going to live through the next hour. This plays on

our inbred human desire to both see and live through other peoples experiences. If as

humans, we did not find some sort of enjoyment when picturing others’ lives, particularly

the tragic events that happen to them, then this art movement would not have thrived as

well as it did or continue to be popular in today’s age. When observers see this painting

for the first time they actually picture themselves in this situation, they imagine what it

would feel like to be the ones grasping the ropes connected to the boat (figure 5). Or

even someone that has been lost at sea. Both of these scenarios leave one feeling

frightened, lost, and overpowered.

Joseph Vernet perfectly encapsulated the ideas behind the romantic sublime

movement. The feelings brought on by viewing the painting, and others of the same

movement, often made people speechless. Vernet made use of both a horrific nature

setting and a situation that strikes terror and panic in every individual. Still to this day
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many people fear heavy storms, oceans, and ships in general. Which implies that this

painting, if painted and viewed for the first time today, would still have connections to

the Romantic Sublime movement which occurred over three centuries ago.
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Works Cited

"Art and the Sublime." Tate Museum, n. d., accessed August 22,

2018, https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/display/art-and-sublime

"Claude Joseph Vernet." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia, 2 Sep. 2018. Web. 25 Sep. 2018.

"Sublime, The." The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms, Edward Lucie-Smith,

Thames & Hudson, 2nd edition, 2003. Credo Reference,

https://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/ent

ry/that/sublime_the/0?institutionId=5375. Accessed 22 Aug. 2018.