The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Eruption of Mount Aetna in 1669

1809

Thomas Sutherland

(British, 1785–1838)

after Romagni

(Italian?, 17th century?)
publisher

Robert John Thornton

(British, 1768–1837)
England, 18th century
aquatint with engraving
Image: 54.4 x 41.4 cm (21 7/16 x 16 5/16 in.); Sheet: 57.2 x 41.4 cm (22 1/2 x 16 5/16 in.)
Gift of Robert Hays Gries 1959.295
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Active volcanoes like Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius were a popular destination for European tourists visiting Italy in the 1700s.

Description

With the eruptions of Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius in the 1700s, volcanoes entered the scientific and popular imagination of Enlightenment Europe. Scientists and philosophers theorized the origins of these spectacular displays; curious tourists visiting Italy wrote home with accounts of burning rivers and destroyed towns. The rediscovery of the ancient sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii, buried by Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 CE, added further fuel to the fire. Attempting to capture the drama of these cataclysmic events, artists innovatively used the tonal range of aquatint and the white of the paper to evoke the dramatic effects of spewing hot lava and burning clouds of volcanic ash.
  • ?–1959
    Robert Hays Gries [1900–1966], Shaker Heights, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 19, 1959–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
  • {{cite web|title=Eruption of Mount Aetna in 1669|url=false|author=Thomas Sutherland, Romagni, Robert John Thornton|year=1809|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.295