Pompeii

Media - 1983.95.158 - SAAM-1983.95.158_1 - 7453
Copied Robert S. Duncanson, Pompeii, 1855, oil on canvas, 21 x 17 in. (53.3 x 43.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Richard Frates, 1983.95.158
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Pompeii
Artist
Date
1855
Location
Dimensions
21 x 17 in. (53.3 x 43.2 cm.)
Markings
lower left in oil: R.S. Duncanson/1855. stretcher lower right/left and upper right/left in felt-tip pen: R.F.
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Richard Frates
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape
  • Figure(s) in exterior
  • Landscape — phenomenon — volcano
  • Cityscape — Italy — Pompeii
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — column
  • Architecture Exterior — ruins
Object Number
1983.95.158
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1983.95.158

Artwork Description

Robert Duncanson's patrons in Cincinnati sponsored his first trip to Europe in 1853, allowing him to participate in a rite of passage for American artists. He compared his skills with those of European painters and claimed, "Of all the landscapes I saw in Europe...I do not feel discouraged." Duncanson imagined Pompeii around the time of its first excavation in 1747, showing men in eighteenth-century costume admiring the ruins and searching for buried treasure. Such fanciful depictions were popular among nineteenth-century American patrons, who made the ancient city at the foot of Vesuvius a stop on their grand tours.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006