Anonymous sale, Lyon, Anaf Arts Auction, October 20, 2002, lot 164, for €450,000, where acquired by the present owner.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This pair of paintings is in beautiful condition and should be hung as is. The canvases have both been lined and the surfaces are stable. The frames are beautiful and probably original. The paint layers have been cleaned, varnished and retouched. In both paintings retouches are almost exclusively confined to the skies where some small blemishes and cracks have been retouched here and there. The rigging of the boats and all of the details of the foreground in both paintings are very well preserved and while the restoration is fairly consistent in the skies, the condition over all is very good.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This pair of mediterranean harbour scenes are amongst Lacroix de Marseille's most impressive works. Like his first dated works from 1743, they depict a different harbour at sunrise and sundown and this was a theme, inherited from Claude-Joseph Vernet, that would dominate his oeuvre. Lacroix had almost certainly studied under Vernet in Rome where he is first documented in 1750.¹ The following year he made four copies of works by Vernet which are almost indistinguishable from Vernet's originals² and it is on the basis of this and the obvious debt that his entire oeuvre owes to him, that, in the absence of any documentary evidence, it is assumed that Lacroix studied under Vernet in Rome until or shortly before the latter's departure for France in 1753.

In terms of scale and subject matter this pair of views may be compared with the Morning and Evening from 1772 and 1773, respectively, that sold London, Christie's, 17 December 1999, lot 94, for £650,000 ($1,043,185). The triumphal arch at the left of the former is a motif that recurs in the artist's oeuvre, for example in the right hanging pendant from 1776 that sold London, Christie's, 10 December 1993, lot 56.

1  A View of a Seaport is signed and dated 'Grenier. de La. Crois. fecit Rom 1750' in Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art; see France and the Eighteenth Century, exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy, January 6, 1968 - March 3, 1969, no. 358.
2  Both Vernet's ཧorigina🎐ls and Lacroix de Marseille's copies are now at Uppark, Sussex.