Rediscovery of S Italy in Nineteenth Century & Modern Age. (3)

19^th Century Painters of Other Nationalities & the Last Days of Pompeii.

Though it was mainly French artists in the 19^th century who responded to the scene of Pompeii’s demise , there were artists from other countries who tackled the subject. The English landscape painter Sebastian Pether (1790-1844) painted the destruction of a city which is thought to be Herculaneum; the volcano depicted is definitely Vesuvius. The Irish-born artist James Hamilton (1819-1878) trained in Philadelphia and never visited Italy. His Last Days of Pompeii (1864) is the product of reading about the tragedy and using his imagination. Other painters include the American Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) who was more famous for his scenes of the Rockies, but he also painted the terrifying volcano. And perhaps the most apocalyptic painter England ever produced, John Martin (1789-1854) went one better than other disaster artists by representing the destruction of both Pompeii and Herculaneum. In a different key, Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) showed a painting at the R.A. in 1865 that took as its theme self-sacrifice in the face of impending disaster rather than Vesuvius and reactions to the explosion. Faithful unto Death depicts a Roman soldier standing guard while Vesuvius destroys Pompeii, though we are spared the conflagration. This painting ushered in the so-called “Victorian classical movement” which included in addition to Poynter Lawrence Alma Tadema who is closer to Chasserieau’s Tepidarium with his interest in the archaeological furnishings . Poynter was a member of the English upper-class who had spent time in Rome, trained in Paris and returned to London in 1859, though he never visited Naples. The subject of Poynter’s painting came from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) (above) in which the Roman soldier makes an appearance near the end of the book. In the words of Bulwer-Lytton: “the lightning flashed over his livid face and polished helmet, but his stern features were composed even in their awe. He remained erect and motionless at his post.” This sort of picture would have been known as an exemplum virtutis: a moral subject demonstrating bravery, self-sacrifice, or a noble course of action. Moral virtue notwithstanding, the picture has also been seen as “a critique of the state” and “a commentary on the futility of self-sacrifice.”