The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2024

Mount Vesuvius at Midnight

Mount Vesuvius at Midnight

1868
(American, 1830–1902)
Framed: 62 x 77 x 9 cm (24 7/16 x 30 5/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 42.6 x 60.7 cm (16 3/4 x 23 7/8 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

For centuries, artists and tourists were attracted to Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near Naples. This awe-inspriing, not to say terrifying, natural wonder destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, and continued to erupt from time to time, as it does to this day. While living in London in 1868, Albert Bierstadt heard that Vesuvius had erupted once again, and rushed immediately to Italy. It is not certain that the artist actually saw the cataclysm, although the painting presents a convincing image of the ash and lava spewed by the volcano. This is a smaller version of a larger canvas now lost.
  • The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-July 7, 2013).
    Visions of Vesuvius. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (organizer) (April 14-July 15, 1978).
    Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, A Retrospective Exhibition: Albert Bierstadt 1830-1902 (5 August-13 September 1964), cat. no. 45, illus. as Mount Aetna.
    Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Visions of Vesuvius (15 April-16 July 1978), no cat. number, listed p. 15, not illustrated.
    Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, The Lure of Italy: American Artists and The Italian Experience, 1760-1914 (16 September-13 December 1992); traveled to Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art (3 February-11 April 1993); to Houston, Museum of Fine Arts (23 May-8 August 1993), cat. no. 53, pp. 213, 229, 276-277, illus. p. 277.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (09/ 12/2012 - 01/07/2013 Getty Villa Malibu, CA; 02/24/2013 - 07/07/2013 Cleveland Museum of Art); "The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection"
  • {{cite web|title=Mount Vesuvius at Midnight|url=false|author=Albert Bierstadt|year=1868|access-date=22 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.541