Hamilton’s debts. The Campi Phlegraei in the context of Vesuvian iconography

Domenico Laurenza

2024-01-01

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Abstract

William Hamilton’s Campi Phlegraei and its Supplement (Naples, 1776 and 1779) are masterpieces of 18th-century illustrated books. Some plates are also among the best examples of landscape art in 18th-century Naples. The article presents Hamilton and his artist Pietro Fabris’s hitherto unknown debts to earlier and contemporary Vesuvian iconography and the new temporal sense of these landscapes. Both aspects have been ignored so far due to the scarce study of engraved Vesuvian landscapes compared to painted ones.