Not Voltaire, Volaire. Pierre-Jacques Volaire, a French painter with a penchant for volcanoes.
He painted Vesuvius erupting many times, frequently under moonlight. The painting below is currently on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is entitled "The Eruption of Vesuvius, A View of Naples Beyond". I'm wondering if this is his most famous painting. It probably is right now, considering it's on exhibit at the Met.
However, he moved to Naples in 1769, and two years later, Vesuvius erupted. He painted that eruption -- see below. I'm not sure how quickly he painted it and how soon it went on exhibit (if it did), because if it was done soon after the eruption, people in Europe who heard about the eruption -- and who also perhaps knew their ancient Greek history -- might have wanted to see what the eruption, which should have been in the news, looked like. So maybe the painting below is his most famous work.
Given the recent reports of activity around this location, it might be useful to know what has happened there before.
No comments:
Post a Comment