The Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii

Martin's Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii from around 1822 exploits one of the most dramatic events in Roman history—the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD that buried two prosperous Roman cities under ash and lava—as a vehicle for his distinctive visual language of catastrophe. The archaeological discovery and ongoing excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii had been a subject of intense public interest since the mid-eighteenth century, and the dramatic volcanic destruction was ideally suited to Martin's combination of geological grandeur and human helplessness. The painting belongs to his most celebrated period following Belshazzar's Feast (1820), when his reputation for spectacular biblical and historical catastrophe was at its height and his prints were reaching audiences across Europe and America. The subject's combination of historical authenticity and visual drama distinguished it from purely biblical subjects.

The volcanic destruction is rendered with Martin's characteristic extremes of light and darkness, the eruption illuminating the doomed cities with terrifying brilliance.