Saitta
Etna Nel 4 Guigno 1879 [Etna on June 4, 1879]
Sicily: c. 1879
Gouache on paper
Signed “Saitta” lower left, titled lower margin, in pencil
12.25 x 17.75 inches, image within lined border
14.5 x 20.25 inches, overall
$1,250
View of Mt. Etna on June 4, 1879
19th C. Italian Grand Tour Painting
19th C. Italian Grand Tour Painting
Painting of the 1879 eruption of Mt. Etna, showing a small group of people watching the approaching lava flow from atop a rock formation while orange flames shoot into the air from the mountainside and ash darkens the moonlit sky. This painting is dated two days before the 1879 eruption ended on June 6, forming the Monte Umberta Margherita crater on the north slope and almost reaching the town of Alcantara.
Paintings of Mt. Etna, in Sicily, and Mt. Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, were popular souvenirs among tourists visiting Italy. They were produced, respectively, by numerous local Sicilian and Neapolitan artists from the days of the Grand Tour in the late 18th century and continuing to the present day.
Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe; during the 21st century there have already been four major eruptions, including a notable one on January 11, 2011.
Condition: Generally good, the colors rich, but with the usual overall toning, wear, handling, soft creases. Professionally restored and deacidified: few small chipped losses tipped in and in-painted (one in volcano smoke area upper left, the other in blank margins), and few short tears restored, now barely discernable, all as backed on Japanese tissue.
References:
Israel, Brett. "Mt. Etna blasts lava, ash into the sky." MSNBC.com. 13 January 2011. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41064182/ns/technology_and_science-science/ (14 January 2011).
"Italy on the Grand Tour: Visit Naples, Sicily and the South." J. Paul Getty Trust. 2001. http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/grand_tour/t5_naples.html (14 June 2002).
Seach, John. "Mt. Etna Volcano Eruptions." Volcano Live. http://www.volcanolive.com/etna2.html (14 January 2011).