The Lure of Volcanoes.

The article discusses the fascination with volcanoes of European artists and scientists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The studies of Mount Vesuvius in Naples (Italy) undertaken by the British diplomat Sir William Hamilton are discussed, as are other prominent figures who wrote about and painted the volcano, including the French artist Pierre-Jacques Volaire, English artist Joseph Wright, and English scientist Michael Faraday. Other famed eruptions discussed from this period include the volcanic fissure Laki in Iceland (1783) and Mount Tambora in Indonesia (1816).