Vernet arrived at Rome in 1732, and became the scholar of Bernardino
Fergioni, then a celebrated marine painter, but Lanzi says, "he was
soon eclipsed by Joseph Vernet, who had taken up his abode at Rome."
Entirely unknown in that metropolis of art, always swarming with
artists, Vernet lived for several years in the greatest poverty,
subsisting by the occasional sale of a drawing or picture at any price
he could get. He even painted panels for coach builders, which were
subsequently sawed out and sold as works of great value. Fiorillo
relates that he painted a superb marine for a suit of coarse clothes,
which brought 5000 francs at the sale of M. de Julienne. Finding large
pictures less saleable, he painted small ones, which he sold for two
sequins a-piece, till a Cardinal, one day gave him four louis d'or for a
marine. Yet his ardor and enthusiasm were unabated; on the contrary, he
studied with the greatest assiduity, striving to perfect himself in his
art, and feeling confident that his talents would ultimately command a
just reward.