Eruption of Mt Vesuvius, Seen from the Ponte della Maddalena in Naples

Eruption of Mt Vesuvius, Seen from the Ponte della Maddalena in Naples

RP-P-2017-6105

• : Lugt 2228
• : Lugt 2760

The eruption of Mt Vesuvius on 8 August 1779 caused great panic with Neapolitans, for it reminded them of the catastrophe that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79. Although it is uncertain whether Desprez actually witnessed this event, he depicted it with the intensity of a personal experience. The outburst lights up the night sky and casts shadows as in daylight, dramatizing the figures’ desperate flight.

c. 1783

lijnets, met de hand gekleurd in waterverf en gouache; kaderlijn in pen en inkt

704 mm x 484 mm

Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds

Public domain

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200703528