The Eruption of Vesuvius, A View of Naples Beyond

Vesuvius, an active volcano near Naples, drew early ecotourists from across eighteenth-century Europe. They sought to experience the Sublime, an emerging aesthetic category that contemplated humankind’s insignificance before nature’s unfathomable scale and power. Silhouetted against luminous lava, tiny figures express awe, fright, and awareness of their mortality. Volaire, who carefully orchestrated these gestures, made his name producing such views as luxury souvenirs. Excavations nearby in 1748 revealed the ancient city of Pompeii, which Vesuvius famously destroyed within minutes, feeding the public’s fascination with nature’s potential wrath and propelling the emerging fields of geology and archaeology.