Vesuvius in Eruption (Wright painting)

Vesuvius in Eruption is the subject of a series of thirty paintings and at least one preliminary sketch by Joseph Wright of Derby, who travelled in Italy in the years 1773-1775.

A second, known by the title Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples is in Tate Britain in London.

A third, Vesuvius from Posillipo, can be seen at the Yale Center for British Art, while a fourth, known under almost the same title, is in a private collection.

[1] There is a gouache sketch of a view of Vesuvius, made in 1774 during Wright's Italian travels, among the collection of his works in Derby Museum and Art Gallery.

Benedict Nicolson, Wright's biographer, imagines him traveling up to the volcano with the vulcanologist and diplomat Sir William Hamilton who may have been a guide on these climbs.