* Alexandre-Hyacinthe Dunouy Paris 1757-1841 Lyon

The subject of the present canvas is identified by an inscription on the stretcher that reads, Dunouy/ Eruption mille huit cent treize/...eruption de Vésuve en 1813....  Dunouy is in fact recorded as working in Naples from 1810-1815 and would have surely been present to witness the spectacular eruption of Vesuvius in December of 1813.  The present painting's medium and size suggest that it may have been conveived as a plein aire sketch or study for a larger composition, possibly the painting in the Museum at Fontainbleau (Inv. 4297).

Dunouy enjoyed much success as a landscape and view painter. He exhibited continuously in the Paris Salons between 1791 and 1833. A similar compositon, entitled Eruption du Vésuve, was exhibited in the Salon of 1817.  That painting, now in the Château de Fontainbleau, was described in the Salon catalogue as,"...Le 25 décembre 1813, on entendit une forte détonation. Tout-a-coup- il sortit du cratère une colonne tres-épaisse de fumée, de cendre et de pierres.  Le moment représenté est celui oú le nuage, commencant à se dissoudre, laisse apercevoir la chûte des matières pesantes".