Valle di Pompeii, December 1896

Sir George Clausen RA (1852 - 1944)

RA Collection: Art

This landscape drawing is one of a small group that Clausen made during a trip to Italy in the winter of 1896. It is possible that Clausen was visiting his friend, the sculptor Havard Thomas, who moved to Italy in 1889, living variously in Naples, Valle di Pompeii and Capri before returning to England in 1906.

According to the itinerary outlined in Clausen's diary, Pompeii was the first stop on the tour and he arrived on the 14th November. He visited Salerno for a couple of days before leaving Pompeii on 28 November to visit Pozzuoli, Naples, Rome and finally Florence, returning to London on the 9th December.

The inscription of 'December 1896' on the drawing may mean that Clausen either couldn't remember the exact date or that he didn't follow the above itinerary as rigidly as his diary suggests.