Vue de Marseille : Joute et fête sur l'eau

Created by Charles Eschard, Vue de Marseille: Joute et fête sur l'eau is an oil on canvas painting dated to 1791. The work was first exhibited at the Salon of 1791 under catalog number 50. Although later attributed to Joseph Vernet, the painting's true authorship was re-established in 1999.

Its documented provenance begins with a sale at Christie's in London on November 27, 1852, where it was listed as a work by Vernet and sold to collector Patrick Anderson. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held the piece from 1955 until 1990. Following its departure from the museum, the painting was sold at an auction in Lille on October 24, 1999, by Maîtres Mercier et Cie, where it was correctly identified as an Eschard and sold for 1,380,000 Francs.

Vue de Marseille: Joute et fête sur l’eau is currently not listed in a public museum collection; after being in the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1955 until 1990, it was sold at auction in Lille in 1999 and its present location is undisclosed. The painting debuted at the 1791 Salon where it was recorded as work no. 50. Subsequent exhibitions include a showing at the Musée de Dayton in 1951, inclusion in the Met’s 1981‑82 exhibition The Eighteenth Century Woman, and a 1991 presentation at Galerie Stair Sainty Matthiesen as part of Eighty Years of French Painting.

The work’s critical reception at the Salon of 1791 marked a late phase in the eighteenth-century tradition of marine painting, aligning with Joseph Vernet’s legacy while asserting Eschard’s individual voice. It was included in the Salon’s 1791 livret as no. 50, confirming its contemporary notice, yet subsequent scholarship long confused its authorship: misattributed to Vernet after its 1852 London sale, the painting was only reclaimed for Eschard in 1999. Its inclusion in the 1981–82 Metropolitan Museum exhibition The Eighteenth Century Woman and the 1991 Stair Sainty Matthiesen show Eighty Years of French Painting situated it within canonical histories of French art, bridging Vernet’s panoramic maritime scenes and post-Revolutionary genre developments.

Within Eschard’s oeuvre, the composition exemplifies the period’s blend of topographical record and festive spectacle, anchoring the artist’s practice between documentary marine art and celebratory urban pageantry.

Charles Eschard, a French artist recognized for his painting, drawing, and engraving, completed Vue de Marseille: Joute et fête sur l'eau in 1796. This oil painting captures a lively maritime festival unfolding in Marseille. The work is now part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing a key example of Eschard's focus on coastal and harbor subjects.