The Eruption of Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius comes alive in the darkness, spewing fire and ash into the night sky. This 1771 painting by French artist Pierre-Jacques Volaire captures a volcanic eruption in all its fury. Volaire built his entire reputation on scenes like this one, painting Vesuvius over and over during his career. He was so drawn to the mountain that he relocated to Naples, where wealthy travelers passing through on their Grand Tour of Europe snapped up his dramatic canvases as memorable keepsakes of their journeys.

The magic of the piece lies in its split personality. Fierce lava spills across the left in molten oranges and reds, with thick smoke rising up toward the heavens. Over on the right, a gentle moon glows above the calm waters of the Bay of Naples, as though the two halves belong to entirely different worlds. Watch for the little silhouettes gathered in the foreground, staring up at the chaos. Volaire liked to include these small witnesses to show us how small we truly are next to nature's raw power.

Belonging to the Romantic tradition, the painting celebrates the grand emotions and overwhelming force of the natural world. Volaire had a talent for light, and he pushes the fiery glow of the eruption against the cool silver of the moon to give the scene real drama. Well before cameras existed, this was how people got to marvel at both the beauty and the danger of a mountain in full eruption.