Temporal Landscapes: Origins and Aspects of Vesuvian Iconography in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Domenico Laurenza

2025-01-01

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Abstract

This article considers an underinvestigated aspect of Vesuvian iconography in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the use of artistic and realistic images to represent the appearance of a landscape before and after an eruption. This was done without any of the diagrammatic images that became increasingly popular with the development of the new earth sciences. My analysis reconstructs Vesuvian iconography from this specific perspective, beginning with its origins—through an analysis of five engravings by Nicolas Perrey depicting the dramatic eruption of Vesuvius in 1631—and tracing its later developments up to the eighteenth century and the work of William Hamilton.