Details

Literatur:
Markus Bertsch (Hrsg.), Ausst.-Kat, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Entfesselte Natur. Das Bild der Katastrophe seit 1600, Petersberg 2018, S. 220, Kat.-Nr. 98, mit farb. Abb. S. 222.

Provenienz:
Privatbesitz, Baden-Württemberg.

Description

This watercolour shows the early excavations at the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. It is located in the south of the city, north of the theatre, right next to the sanctuary of Zeus Meilichios and was the first structure to be discovered there in 1764. The discovery of the temple complex surrounded by Doric columns caused quite a stir at the time, as it was not expected that an Egyptian goddess had been worshipped in the Roman province.
Fabris was working for the British envoy and volcanologist Sir William Hamilton in Naples in those days when Mount Vesuvius was once again emitting columns of black smoke and causing the earth to tremble. The work served as a design for an engraving (no. 41) in Hamilton’s three-folio publication Campi Phlegraei from 1760. In terms of cultural history, it is of particular relevance that the excavations in Pompeii took place just a few years after the devastating earthquake in Lisbon (1755). The natural catastrophe from late antiquity thus involuntarily gained topicality and served as a forewarning that entire regions could also fall victim to elemental violence in the future. – A crease in the right and lower margin outside the image. Paper somewhat thinned at upper left. Colour layer in the lower margin slightly rubbed in one place in the centre. In good condition.