PIETRO ANTONIANI (MILANO 1740/50 – 1805)
Eruption of Vesuvius in 1767
oil on canvas, unframed
52.5 x 101.5 cm (20 3/4 x 40 in)

The present work is an especially fine example by landscape painter Pietro Antoniani of a genre inspired by Pierre-Jacques Volaire and Joseph Wright of Derby, who both excelled in depicting both the drama and the sublime of the Vesuvius erupting in 1767. The tranquillity of the sea stands in stark contrast to the violence of the volcano. The white hot jet of molten liquid hurled from the heart of the volcano is framed by dense black clouds, and a further wreath of smoke streams out across the bay, not quite obscuring a brilliant full moon. Figures, scarcely visible in the sombre foreground, add a human element to the composition and stress man's insignificance before the sublime grandeur of nature.