Pierre-Jacques Volaire
The Eruption of Vesuvius
1771
Pierre-Jacques Volaire's 'The Eruption of Vesuvius' (c. 1771) is a dramatic Sublime landscape by the French painter based in Naples. An apocalyptic pyre of molten lava cascades down Vesuvius into the Bay of Naples while tiny figures contemplate the scene from shore — one of the defining images of the 18th-century Grand Tour fascination with volcanic catastrophe. Oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Art Institute of Chicago