(Toulon 1729–c.1799 Naples)
A Mediterranean coastal landscape with fishermen in the foreground,
signed lower left: le C.er Volaire f.,
oil on canvas, 35.5 x 53 cm, framed

Provenance:
Christie’s, Rome, 24 November 1992, lot. 104 (as Pierre-Jacques Volaire);
European private collection

Literature:
E. Beck Saiello, Pierre Jacques Volaire 1729-1799 dit le Chevalier Volaire, Paris 2010, p. 104, ill. p. 248

Emilie Beck Saiello dates the present canvas to the late period of the artist, among the works executed in the last two decades of his activity (1780-1799). Beck Saiello has also suggested that the present painting could have been the pendant of the Scène de la côte méditerranéenne, sold in London (Sotheby’s 24 juin 1970, lot 52), similar in subject and size, although possibly painted some years earlier (Beck Saiello, no. P36). The present composition is animated by small lively figures in the foreground painted in natural and genuine attitudes, captivating “pour son traitement raffiné de la lumiére et sa matière fine” (Beck Saiello, p. 248). Volaire painted his marines from direct observation, based on elements taken from life, and with a new attention to the effects of light. The present painting displays the distinctive style of the artist who, strongly influenced by the famous marine painter Joseph Vernet with whom he collaborated in his first years of activity, had began to develop his own style when he moved from Rome to Naples in 1769. The present composition can be compared to the Marine (location unknown; see Beck Saiello, p. 249, no. P106) and to the four paintings Port de mer, Promenade dans une grotte, La Baignade des pêcheurs, Paysage avec pêcheurs (Arkhangelskoie, musée d’Etat d’Arhangelskoie; see Beck Saiello, p. 249, nos. P107-110).
Beck Saiello has suggested identifying the present painting with works mentioned in old sales, as the Vue des environs de Naples. Des pêcheurs au premier plans (35,1 x 54 cm; sold in Paris, 20 May 1790, lot 15), or the Marine avec pêcheurs (37 x 54 cm; sold in Paris, 25 May 1807, lot 79), both described in the sale catalogue as very similar in measures (35,1 x 54 cm) and compositions (see Beck Saiello, no. PM 70, p. 245, no. PM 101, p. 250).