Pompeii

Robert S. Duncanson, Pompeii, 1855, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Richard Frates, 1983.95.158
Robert S. Duncanson, Pompeii, 1855, oil on canvas, 2117 in. (53.343.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Richard Frates, 1983.95.158
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Artwork Details

Title
Pompeii
Date
1855
Dimensions
2117 in. (53.343.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Richard Frates
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — Italy — Pompeii
  • Landscape — phenomenon — volcano
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — column
  • Architecture Exterior — ruins
Object Number
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

Works by this artist (22 items)

Robert S. Duncanson, Mountain Pool, 1870, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Richard Frates, 1983.95.173
Mountain Pool
Date1870
oil on canvas
On view
Robert S. Duncanson, On the St. Annes, East Canada, 1863, 1865, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Drown, 1983.95.170
On the St. Annes, East Canada
Date1863, 1865
oil on canvas
On view
Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Family by Lake, 1858, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of J & R Investments, 1983.95.175
Landscape with Family by Lake
Date1858
oil on canvas
On view
Robert S. Duncanson, Waterfall on Mont-Morency, 1864, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Norbert Fleisig, 1983.95.161
Waterfall on Mont-Morency
Date1864
oil on canvas
On view

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Comanche Giving Arrows to the Medicine Rock
Date1837-1839
oil on canvas
Not on view
William Holbrook Beard, The Runaway Match, 1877, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1977.55
The Runaway Match
Date1877
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Not on view