Mineral Studies from Campi Phlegraei
Sir William Hamilton

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Pair of Mineral Studies Pair of Mineral Studies
detail
Sir William Hamilton (publisher)
Pair of Mineral Studies
from Campi Phlegraei (Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London)
London: c. 1780s
Hand-colored engravings
12 1/2 x 18 inches
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

The huge tome from which these prints originated describes volcanic areas around Pozzuoli to the west of Naples, Vesuvius, islands in the Bay and Mount Etna in Sicily. Campi Phlegraei was expensive to produce but provided clear, precise, more useful and much more detailed explanations of volcanic activity than had previously been published, and included Sir William Hamilton's own theories that volcanoes were creative rather than destructive forces. Published in both Italy and England it sold widely throughout Europe and was hailed as a masterpiece. This print is in the collection of the The Getty Research Institute and appeared in their online exhibition Italy on the Grand Tour.

Sir William Hamilton (1730-1806) was a prominent collector and enthusiast of the arts and sciences at the height of the Age of Enlightenment. Born to an aristocratic Scottish family, he assembled one of the world's finest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities as British Envoy Extraordinaire to the two Sicilies from 1764-1800. Most of the antiquities he collected came from excavations in Southern Italy and Sicily, and he later sold most of them to the British Museum. View a portrait of Hamilton by Sir Joshua Reynolds. For more material related to Hamilton on our web site, use our site search engine.

References:

"Italy on the Grand Tour." Getty Research Institute. http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/grand_tour/t8_souvenirs.html.