French school, circa 1830, around Joseph FRANQUE
The eruption of Vesuvius
Canvas.
Old restorations.
63.6 x 50.5 cm
Our painting is a revival of Joseph Franque's composition exhibited at the Salon of 1827 and kept at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is one of the first representations of the flight of the inhabitants of Pompeii during
the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD (the novel The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton dates from 1834, and the
painting by Karl Brioullov around 1827-1834). Painter of Joachim and Caroline Murat, Franque was then director of
the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples and directed the excavations.
The composition here is in
its entirety, whereas the large Philadelphia format has been moved several tens of
centimetres upwards and to other sides, so that the action with the horse rearing up and the cart overturning is difficult to understand.
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