Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9099
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Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples
Date
17th century
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 168mm
width (print): 238mm
width (print): 238mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Landscape dominated by an erupting Mount Vesuvius seen from across a bay from Naples [?] with ships sailing and docked in the port. Numbered upper left “fol. 171.” A decorative cartouche, upper right, bears a classical inscription:
“Hec ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
Litoribus fractas, ubi Vesbius egerit iras.
Stat. Silu. Lib.4.c.4.”
Text is from the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius, Sylvae book 4, who alludes to an eruption in antiquity.
From volume 7 of Antonio Piaggio’s notebooks, for the period April-August 1795. , within a section commencing “Lava dell’ anno 1791”. Loosely inserted near the end of the volume, with a letter from Antonio Piaggio, Resina, 20 August 1795, to Sir William Hamilton.
“Hec ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
Litoribus fractas, ubi Vesbius egerit iras.
Stat. Silu. Lib.4.c.4.”
Text is from the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius, Sylvae book 4, who alludes to an eruption in antiquity.
From volume 7 of Antonio Piaggio’s notebooks, for the period April-August 1795. , within a section commencing “Lava dell’ anno 1791”. Loosely inserted near the end of the volume, with a letter from Antonio Piaggio, Resina, 20 August 1795, to Sir William Hamilton.
Object history
From the diaries of Vesuvius observations by Antonio Piaggio (active 1755-1795).
Periodic written observations and pencil sketches of volcanic activity, kept by Fr. Piaggio, on behalf of Sir William Hamilton, Piaggio was based at the Madonna Pugliano near Resina at the western side of Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, Italy. With an additional volume dedicated to the major eruption of 1779, (originally volume 1 of the sequence). The volumes have occasional inserted material, including a presentation letter from Sir William Hamilton to Sir Joseph Banks at the Royal Society, 14 June 1801.
Periodic written observations and pencil sketches of volcanic activity, kept by Fr. Piaggio, on behalf of Sir William Hamilton, Piaggio was based at the Madonna Pugliano near Resina at the western side of Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, Italy. With an additional volume dedicated to the major eruption of 1779, (originally volume 1 of the sequence). The volumes have occasional inserted material, including a presentation letter from Sir William Hamilton to Sir Joseph Banks at the Royal Society, 14 June 1801.
Associated place