The eruption of Vesuvius in December 1820 - J. C. Dahl

J. C. Dahl, a Norwegian landscape painter, was also a professor at the Kunstakademie (Academy of Fine Arts) in Dresden and a close friend of Caspar David Friedrich. He witnessed an eruption of Mount Vesuvius during a stay in Naples in 1820/21. Fascinated, he climbed the volcano several times to make sketches that later served as the basis for several oil paintings. For visitors to Naples, climbing Mount Vesuvius had represented the high point of their Tour of Italy since the early 18th century.