Robert S. Duncanson, born Seneca County, NY 1821/22-died Detroit, MI 1872 Search this
Medium:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
21 x 17 in. (53.3 x 43.2 cm.)
Type:
Painting
Date:
1855
Gallery Label:
Robert Duncanson's patrons in Cincinnati sponsored his first trip to Europe in 1853, allowing him to participate in a rite of passage for American artists. He compared his skills with those of European painters and claimed, "Of all the landscapes I saw in Europe...I do not feel discouraged." Duncanson imagined Pompeii around the time of its first excavation in 1747, showing men in eighteenth-century costume admiring the ruins and searching for buried treasure. Such fanciful depictions were popular among nineteenth-century American patrons, who made the ancient city at the foot of Vesuvius a stop on their grand tours.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
