The Eruption Of Mount Vesuvius Analysis

Pre-romanticism paintings like Volaire’s, The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, displays images of sublimity through light, colors and movement. These Sublime images directly display the wildness and the magnitude of nature. While other artists of the pre-romanticism movement use sublimity none use sublimity quite like Volaire does. Volaire’s paintings are unique because they feature dynamic paintings of volcanoes, movement, and feature brilliant colors which are aesthetically different from his peers of the mid 18th century and his paintings are a forerunner to the Romantic movement. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, painted in 1777 by Pierre-Jacques Volaire. The time that this painting was painted makes this work a part of pre-romantic movement. Romanticism
While Volaire is technically a part of the pre-romantic movement, his paintings helped define romantic themes. The picturesque movement before the romantic movement, (mid eighteenth century,) consisted mostly of serene scenes of nature. Picturesque is derived from the Italian pittoresco meaning “from a picture,” and depicted simple and serene scenes of nature. Volaire made art history when he painted of volcanoes. Paintings of volcanoes convey excitement that you might not find in the picturesque paintings. Volaire’s volcano scenes illustrate people in the act of running from raging volcanoes, hills on fire, and the sky ablaze with ash and spouts of lava. Comparing picturesque paintings like Looking towards the East Window by J. M. W. Turner (1794) and The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius or any other of Volaire’s paintings would be like comparing a golf game to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment.) Another important part of Volaire’s pieces is sublimity. Provided that Sublimity is considered to also be a part of the romantic movement, the word sublime means awe inspiring or impressive. And sublimity in art is meant to take scenes and certain aspect in nature and emphasize the magnificence and magnitude of that scene and artists who practiced sublimity attempted to give the same feeling in the painting when you experience sublimity in
In art this technique is called Sfumato, or the gradation of light and shadow in oil paintings. Leonardo Da Vinci originally used this technique in paintings like John the Baptist, to transition the eye from one part of the painting. Sfumato Sfumato helps the artist tell a story in his painting, giving the onlooker a place to start and a natural progression of places to go. In The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the onlookers eyes is first drawn to the oranges and bright colors of the volcano; then your eye follows other warm colors in painting in the village, the hillside, and then to fleeing wayfarers. Then they are drawn to the cooler light that is given off by the light of the moon and then the eye remains in the darker parts of the painting such as in the details of the ship or the