French Literature Reviews - 2026
Émilie Beck Saiello, Car c'est moy que je peins. Family and Professional Strategies of Joseph Vernet through a Critical Study of His Account Book and Correspondence
Art and Visual Culture
Three slipcased hardcover volumes of 592, 720, and 784 pages (4.3 kg), format 16 x 22.5 cm, printed on Arena Natural Smooth 120 g paper by Grafiche Veneziane. Featuring 130 color and black-and-white illustrations.
This work exemplifies an art history conceived as an inquiry into the foundations of "material culture" that enable such books to exist—a sort of economic and social genesis of their production.
These volumes undoubtedly offer the definitive reference work for admirers of Joseph Vernet, while broadly providing a precious source of information for anyone interested in Enlightenment art and the lived reality of being a painter in the second half of the 18th century—as the account books of Joseph Vernet and his wife are the most detailed records left to us by any painter of the era.
Yet they also shed light on other dimensions of artistic output, specifically as a family and social enterprise in all its operational precision. The complete, critically annotated edition of these various account books ("livres de raison") is decisive in this regard, supported by an extensive apparatus of notes that serves as a veritable mine of information for history enthusiasts. It likewise restores Madame Vernet (Virginia Parker) to her rightful place, highlighting the crucial contribution she made to her husband's success.
The "question of painting" is thus reframed in numerous ways: a painter's activity in the 18th century cannot be reduced solely to concrete yet decontextualized, and therefore ultimately abstract, elements such as works created sub specie æternitatis. Instead, it unfolds within the very fabric of everyday life—as suggested by the quotation from Montaigne chosen as the title for this study.
Émilie Beck Saiello is an Associate Professor (maître de conférences) in Early Modern Art History at the University of Sorbonne Paris Nord (Pléiade) and is qualified to direct research (habilitée à diriger des recherches). A former student of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, she was a resident fellow at the French Academy in Rome. She has organized and directed several academic symposia and exhibitions, including Girodet et Péquignot, une amitié artistique at the Magnin Museum in Dijon in 2010, and Les artistes de Diderot. Joseph Vernet at the Maison des Lumières-Denis Diderot in 2023. She is the author of some fifty articles and several books, including Pierre Jacques Volaire, dit le Chevalier Volaire 1729-1799 (Arthena, 2010) and Napoli e la Francia. I pittori di paesaggio da Vernet a Valenciennes (L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2010). Her research focuses on landscape painting, the Roman and Neapolitan artistic circles of the 18th century, the social standing of the artist, artistic mobility and cultural exchange (particularly within Enlightenment-era Europe), artist writings, and art theory.
This work was published with the support of the National Book Center (Centre National du Livre), the Calvet Institute, the Bella Maniera Association, and the University of Paris Nord - Pléiade Laboratory.
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The study of livres de raison, or personal account books, occupies a significant place in the historiography of early modern art. These documents offer a view of the economic realities that underpinned artistic production. By analyzing the records of Joseph Vernet and his wife, Virginia Parker, this work situates the painter's career within the broader context of Enlightenment-era social and family structures. Readers interested in the history of art markets and the domestic management of eighteenth-century studios may find it relevant.
The methodology employed here emphasizes the material conditions of artistic labor, moving away from purely aesthetic analysis toward a social history of the painter. This approach highlights how professional success was linked to the operational precision of the household and the collaborative efforts of the family unit. The work reframes the activity of painting as a practice embedded in the everyday, contributing to an understanding of the professional mobility and cultural exchanges that characterized the artistic landscape of the eighteenth century.