A dramatic painting of the 1774 eruption of Mount Vesuvius by an artist said to have witnessed the event is to go under the hammer in Edinburgh next week. The work by German landscape artist Jakob Philipp Hackert is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000 at Lyon & Turnbull auction house.
According to a biography of Hackert written by his friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the artist was in Italy at the time of the eruption and courageously produced a series of live sketches and studies of the scene. He later used these as reference for his paintings after returning to Rome, where he had settled in 1768.
The 1774 eruption occurred during the height of the Grand Tour, a journey made by wealthy British and European travellers to visit classical sites across Europe. Souvenirs were often collected as mementoes, and views of Mount Vesuvius were especially popular among tourists.
Hackert (1737-1807) created several paintings of Vesuvius erupting, including the one being auctioned. Romey Clark, associate fine art specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said: “Hackert’s depiction is notable for its dramatic immediacy. Flames and molten lava burst violently from the crater while thick clouds of smoke billow upward into the night sky.”
Clark added that by positioning the viewer close to the action, the artist moves away from traditional panoramic views, instead offering a more concentrated and immersive vision of the eruption. Figures in the foreground, most likely Grand Tour travellers accompanied by local guides, observe the spectacle from the slopes of the volcano.
The painting will be auctioned on Wednesday May 13 as part of Lyon & Turnbull’s two-day Five Centuries sale. “We’re excited to see what the painting fetches at auction,” Clark said.
