Title: Plate LVI: View of the great eruption of mount Vesuvius, on Sunday night August the 8th 1779, taken from an original drawing done by M. Peter Fabris, near his Sicilian Majesty’s palace at Pausilipo at the moment of the eruption.
Creator: Pietro Fabris (fl 1740-1792)
Description: Published in Hamilton, W, ‘Campi Phlegraei, ou, observations sur les volcans des Deux Siciles’. Nouvelle éd. edn. Paris: Chez Lamy, (1799)
The source of this plate, ‘Campi Phlegraei…’, is a first hand account of the eruptions witnessed by Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), British envoy to Naples between 1764-1767. Originally published in three volumes (1776-1779), the title took its name from the area around Naples popularly referred to as ‘Campi Phlegraei’ or ‘flaming fields’, owing to the frequent and violent eruptions of Mount Vesuvius.
Date: 1799
Format: Hand coloured etching
Image reference: 02-43
Recommended print size: Up to 20 x 16 inches (50 x 40cm)
