 |
||
Catalog of the Fine Arts CollectionPlease note that the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum prohibits the use of images from its collection in public exhibition, broadcast, electronic reproduction or publication in any form without prior written permission from the institution. If you would like to reproduce any of the Art Gallery images in any form, contact us at 748-8291.
Luigi Bazzani (1836-1927), Italian Luigi Bazzani enjoyed a long career painting re-creations of life in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii before its sudden burial in Vesuvius' eruption of 79 c.e. Excavations in the city throughout the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries fueled a steady fascination with the ancient civilization. Bazzani's attention to historic detail was recognized in his time, as he contributed a series of fourteen illustrations to a publication by Pompeii's leading archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri. This portrayal of a house's central courtyard incorporates the delicate, brightly painted walls and decorations of a Roman villa with a sense of the utter lack of awareness that preceded the city's destruction. Cut flowers, cast aside on the white marble in the painting's foreground, are the only overt portents of the young woman's fate. |
||
