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Vesuvius and Pompeii
Robert S. Duncanson (born Fayette, NY 1821-died Detroit, MI 1872)
1870
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 10 x 15 5/8 in. (25.4 x 39.7 cm.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph Agostinelli
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Robert S. Duncanson spent a significant amount of time in Italy, and painted several views of Pompeii. Pompeii's dramatic history and the lure of Mount Vesuvius's still violent potential brought many artists to the area in the nineteenth century. This image shows the remains of an amphitheater, with Vesuvius smoking in the background. Duncanson probably painted this scene from memory, placing different ruins together to create a compelling composition.
