Summer Evening, Landscape in Italy

Joseph Vernet was a French landscape and marine painter from the 18th century. This work was created in 1773, relatively late in Vernet's artistic career. It is thought to be one part of a group of works that follow the 17th-century Italian custom of creating a series of tableaux depicting the different hours of a single day. Another work created the same year entitled Morning has also been identified as the pendant to this work.

The composition shows groups of figures bathing in a river at dusk on a long summer day. The rocky cliff and trees that fill the right side of the composition and the river and bridge in the center of the image are all elements that appear repeatedly in Vernet's works. The townscape that forms the background of the work is not today a specifically identifiable site. Rather, it has been suggested that the scene is a compilation of several true views. Vernet was said to have painted outdoors from life during his stay in Italy, but as was suggested in the 18th century, he frequently reworked and reassembled favorite elements and motifs during his later years.