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Lot Essay
Humphrey Roberts, who originally owned this watercolour, was among Hunt's most loyal patrons during the artist's lifetime. In her essay in the Old Water-Colour Society's Club, Violet Hunt discusses her father's technique of scraping and sponging the paper and mentions that 'drawings that have suffered peine forte et dure are among the most cherished assets of certain private collections, such as those of Mr. Newall and Mr. Humphrey Roberts' (V. Hunt, 'Alfred William Hunt', Old Water-Colour Society's Club, vol. II, London, 1824-1825, p. 32).
A sepia drawing of the same title was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1897, no. 121, and was sold in these Rooms from the Newall Collection, 14 December 1979, lot 204.
The Bay of Naples, extending from Cumae to Sorrento, is the most beautiful and celebrated Italian gulf. This view is from Mergellina at the foot of the Posillipo hillside, looking towards Vesuvius, one of the few volcanoes in Europe that are still active. In the foreground is the Castel dell'Ovo, an Angevin castle which acquired its name probably because of its vaguely ovoid shape.
Until the famous eruption of 29 AD, which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, Vesuvius seemed extinct. Since then there have been many eruptions. Hunt would have seen Vesuvius active as the volcano erupted from December 1870 to April 1872. The eruption of 1944 altered the shape of the crater, and the large plume of smoke seen in paintings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries disappeared.
A sepia drawing of the same title was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1897, no. 121, and was sold in these Rooms from the Newall Collection, 14 December 1979, lot 204.
The Bay of Naples, extending from Cumae to Sorrento, is the most beautiful and celebrated Italian gulf. This view is from Mergellina at the foot of the Posillipo hillside, looking towards Vesuvius, one of the few volcanoes in Europe that are still active. In the foreground is the Castel dell'Ovo, an Angevin castle which acquired its name probably because of its vaguely ovoid shape.
Until the famous eruption of 29 AD, which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, Vesuvius seemed extinct. Since then there have been many eruptions. Hunt would have seen Vesuvius active as the volcano erupted from December 1870 to April 1872. The eruption of 1944 altered the shape of the crater, and the large plume of smoke seen in paintings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries disappeared.