Description
Inspired by the atmospheric effects of Turner and Whistler, the naturalistic agenda of Ruskin, and the meticulous handling of the Pre-Raphaelites, Alfred William Hunt sought in his own art to unite "nature's true colour together with her all-pervading light." Here, the broad slopes of Vesuvius emerge from mist across the Bay of Naples, distinguished by a single plume of smoke against the glowing twilight sky. Loosely-traced silhouettes of ships punctuate the expansive bay, while a single figure accompanied by a white cat interrupts the richly textured, golden walls of the structure in the foreground.In 1871 the weekly journal "Athenaeum" singled out this work at the summer exhibition of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, praising the "thunderous-looking twilight, with reflected gleams like flashes from steel on the sea, and in the sky a look which suggests breathless waiting for a tumult—Vesuvius seems in keeping with all this. We look over the terraced roofs of Naples, with lights distinct among them, so that the eye takes in the harbour, moles [piers], lighthouses, and the shore sweeping in grand lines to our left. Apart from its power in rendering the subject, with all its grandeur and sentiment, this work is, technically speaking, a masterpiece of chiaroscuro: it is magnificent in effect, and the sea is very finely painted; it will bear examination throughout, and is, on the whole, the best of Mr. Hunt's watercolour pictures". Medium: watercolor with touches of gouache over graphite.
Image Licence
CC0 1.0
Image Credit
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts
Location
Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy
Country
Italy
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
