This fantastical dream leads Hanold on a real journey to Rome, Naples, and ultimately Pompeii, where, amazingly, he sees the Gradiva of his bas-relief stepping calmly and buoyantly across the lava stepping-stones.

Albertazzi is best known for his portrayal of the male protagonist in Last Year at Marienbad, written by Alain Robbe-Grillet, who would himself go on to direct a film based on Jensen's novel in 2002.

It begins with an English art historian who is doing research in Morocco on the paintings and drawings that French artist Eugène Delacroix (1798 – 1863) produced over a century before, when he travelled to the country as part of a diplomatic mission.

Spotting a beautiful, mysterious blonde woman (Gradiva) in flowing robes, dashing through the back alleys of Marrakech, he becomes consumed with the need to track her down.

[citation needed] Sigmund Freud analyzed the actions and dreams of this young archaeologist in his 1908 study, Der Wahn und die Träume in W. Jensens Gradiva.