View of the City and Harbour of Toulon

This View of the City and Harbour of Toulon, painted in 1756, provides us with a panorama stretching from the heights of Mont Faron to the port. It depicts the features essential to the establishment of a powerful naval port, including a harbour naturally protected from spying eyes and prevailing winds.

The series of Views of the Ports of France painted by Joseph Vernet between 1753 and 1765 was the result of the most ambitious royal commission of Louis XV’s reign. It was intended to reflect the diversity of the country’s maritime activities, show that its port cities were thriving centres of trade, shipbuilding and shipping companies, marking the renaissance of the French Royal Navy under Louis XV, in times of commercial, military and colonial rivalry with England for mastery of the seas.

The first eight of the fifteen paintings were completed in five years and depict five Mediterranean sites. The port of Toulon is the subject of three of them, testimony to its key importance.

The Rade des Vignettes, or “Great Harbour” is depicted on the far left of the painting, in the background. Two sheltered docks are featured in the middle ground, basins protected by bastioned walls where ships could take refuge. And finally, beyond the fortified site’s ramparts, a pleasant, cultivated countryside stretches into the foreground, celebrating the relaxed rhythm of life in a Provençal bastide.

The original of the View of the city and the harbor of Toulon is visible at the Louvre