Mount Vesuvius at Midnight (1868): Art, History and Details

Mount Vesuvius at Midnight (1868) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albert Bierstadt (American, born Prussia [now Germany], 1830–1902).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

For centuries, artists and tourists have been attracted to Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near Naples. While living in London in 1868, Albert Bierstadt heard that the volcano was active once again, and rushed immediately to Italy. It is not certain that he actually saw an eruption, although the resultant painting presents a convincing image of spewing lava and ash.

Object facts

• Title: Mount Vesuvius at Midnight
• Date: 1868
• Creator attribution: Albert Bierstadt (American, born Prussia [now Germany], 1830–1902)
• Culture: America
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 62 x 77 x 9 cm (24 7/16 x 30 5/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 42.6 x 60.7 cm (16 3/4 x 23 7/8 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1949.541

A detail from the museum

This painting is a smaller version of a much larger canvas that is now lost.

Collection credit

Gift of S. Livingstone Mather, Philip Richard Mather, Katherine Hoyt (Mather) Cross, Katherine Mather McLean and Constance Mather Bishop

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.