The Eruption of Vesuvius

1771

Pierre-Jacques Volaire (French, 1729–after 1799)

In this imposing composition, molten lava spews from the mouth of Mount Vesuvius in Italy and winds down the hillside towards the Bay of Naples. Energetic human figures observe the spectacle, their small scale emphasizing the volcano’s enormity.

Vesuvius erupted six times between 1707 and 1794 and thus became a touchstone of popular culture at the time. This same period saw the first systematic excavations of Pompeii, the ancient city that Vesuvius famously destroyed in 79 CE. The romance of Vesuvius simultaneously wondrous and terrifying, ancient and contemporary—made it a frequent subject in 18th-century European art and literature. Paintings like this had enormous appeal in tourist markets.

Status: On View, Gallery 219
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Pierre-Jacques Volaire
Title: The Eruption of Vesuvius
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1771
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed bottom left: Vue de l'Eruption / du mont Vesuve du 14 / may 1771 peinte Sur le / lieu par le Che Volaire.
Dimensions: 116.8 × 242.9 cm (46 × 95 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1978.426
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/57996/manifest.json

Ingvar Berström, “Nagra Vesuvius-Bilder Fran 1700-Talet, Apropos ett Okänt Verk av Jacques Volaire,” in Festskrift tillägnad Axel Boëthius, July 18, 1949 (Gothenburg, 1949), pp. 15–29, fig. 1.
Jacques Foucart in Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, De David à Delacroix: La Peinture française de 1774 à 1830, exh. cat., 1974, p. 668, under no. 203.
Benedict Nicolson, “Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: General,” Burlington Magazine 118 (1976), p. 40, fig. 39.
Marina Causa Picone, “Volaire,” Antologia di belle arti 2, no. 5 (1978), p. 38.
Madeline Pinault in Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, La Révolution française et l’Europe, 1789–1799, exh. cat., 1989, p. 220, under no. 309.
Fifty Paintings, 1535–1825: To Celebrate Ten Years of Collaboration between the Matthiesen Gallery, London, and Stair Sainty Matthiesen, New York (London and New York, 1993), p. 170.
Susan Wise in Susan Wise and Malcolm Warner, French and British Paintings from 1600 to 1800 in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1996), pp. 156–59 (ill.).
Didier Aaron, “15: Pierre-Jacques Volaire,” Catalogue, (Archieve D’Imprimer en Aout, 2006.
Peter Björn Kerber, Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe, exh. cat. (J. P. Getty Museum, 2017), p. 156, fig. 178, 158-159, 219, 242.

Detroit Institute of Arts and Art Institute of Chicago, “The Golden Age of Naples: Art and Civilization under the Bourbons, 1734–1805,” 11 August–1 November 1981, 16 January–8 March 1982, no. 76.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe,” from May 9-July 30, 2017; traveled to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota from September 10-December 31, 2017, finally at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio from February 25-May 20, 2018, fig. 178.

London art market [according to 1981 letter from Ingvar Bergström in curatorial file]. Gunnar Trägårdh, Gothenburg, Sweden [according to Bergström letter cited above]. Sold by Trägårdh to Dr. Sven Langert, Gothenburg, Sweden, in the 1930s; sold by his wife, Majken Langert, Christie’s, London, 26 November 1971, no. 85, to Ray Perman acting on behalf of Cyril Humphris and Herner Wengraf, London [according to Bergström letter cited above]. Sold Sotheby’s, London, 19 April 1978, no. 156 (ill.), to P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., London [letter from Magdalen Elwes, Colnaghi, 7 September 1983, in curatorial file]; sold by Colnaghi to Richard L. Feigen and Co., New York, 1978 [letter from Elaine Banks, Feigen, 6 October 1983, in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1978.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.