[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]
This collective work, edited by Mirella Romero Recio, Jesús Salas Álvarez & Laura Buitrago, makes up a part of the “Hispania Antigua” collection and is a part of the RIPOMPHEI[1] project and the international discussion of the same name which took place at the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) in Madrid, Spain between 8-10 June 2022.
This is a book which, in the words of the editors, discusses how the discoveries in Campania “made their presence felt not only in Spanish society, but also in the Americas, which can be traced through a variety of mediums: periodical publications, travel stories, translations of different works, dissemination of publications through libraries, decorative art, artwork, novels, theatres, opera houses and cinemas, among others”[2].
The 18 studies which make up the volume are laid out in five sections, following a thematic order and reflecting the variety of the academic focusses therein: “Personal Experiences in Vesuvian Cities. Travellers Between Two Worlds”[3], “Tales Between Two Worlds: The Work of the Press in the Reception and Dissemination of the Pompeian Myth”[4], “Art Between Two Worlds”[5], “Pompeii and Herculaneum as Cultural Models of Progress”[6] and “Reception Between Two Worlds: From the Archives of Archaeology to Research in the Digital Age”[7]. The material contains a wide array of narratives and experiences from Pompei and Herculaneum in both American and Hispanic spheres, in which a counterpoint can be observed between pervasive phenomena, which remain consistent, and other details which are unique to each case study.
One of the central ideas which is ever-present throughout, is the way in which the history of Vesuvius helped to shape the education of several figures between the 19th and 20th centuries in Spain and the Americas, fostering an intellectual class who discussed the ideas of the time and who helped make up a global cohort of individuals motivated by archaeological discoveries. Having said that, it is an education which stems from many sources. A good number of cases can be attributed to the Grand Tour of the elite class, or to the stipends which allowed Spanish artists to visit archaeological digs. On the other hand, although contact usually occurs through direct experience, it is also mediated by a variety of news sources and by works of fiction such as The Last Days of Pompeii, by Bulwer Lytton. It is also important to consider how the image of Vesuvian discoveries is framed, as if it were a time capsule, pristine and intact, despite the constant visits to which the area was subjected following the eruption – as theorised by María del Carmen Alonso Rodríguez.
The narratives borne out of the Pompeian experience which are studied herein speak volumes about their audience, which is an especially compelling element of this collection. Some of the stories, diaries and letters allow us to understand familial and daily realities, as was the case with the writings of the Chilean author Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, treated by María Gabriela Huidobro Salazar, who draws parallels between Pompeii and Herculaneum and his own world, for example, the disaster of Vesuvius and the earthquakes in Chile. In a letter studied by Mirella Romero Recio the Spanish painter José Manaut Viglietti recounts his own intimate impressions, upon beginning his travels as a middle-aged man, in which we feel his profound emotion: “I am quite overawed. […] Tired from merely admiring so many things! Greek statues, Greco-Roman paintings, such stunning discoveries!”[8].
In some of these and other case studies, a link can be found between individual and external factors, such as the development of political processes and the formation of patriotic identities: such is the case with the Cuban author Eusebio Guiteras Font, whose experience of learned culture intertwines with pro-independence ideas, as observed in the chapter written by Federica Pezzoli, as well as in the writings of Vicuña Mackenna himself. It is important to point out that while many of the protagonists are male, we also have records of educated female travellers, such as Elena de Larraínzar (Mexico), María Teresa de Arrubla (Colombia) and Clorinda Matto de Turner (Peru), to whom Laura Buitrago has dedicated her research.
Another notable topic in the volume addresses the way in which the discoveries in the region of Vesuvius were made known to the Americas and Spain. The studies carried out by Aurelia Vargas Valencia tell us that this phenomenon even involved figures such as Carlos III of Spain and Maximilian I of Mexico, who played a role in carrying out a series of initiatives that had an impact on New Spain. The role of the press in the dissemination of this knowledge is particularly interesting. This is evident in the case of Chile with the Zig-Zag magazine, as explored by Carolina Valenzuela Matus. The magazine boasted a wide readership, and both contributed to the democratisation of culture and presented its readers with more mundane content such as clothing. Similarly, during the second half of the 19th century, the press in Rio de Janeiro served as a kind of gatekeeper of taste and culture, covering everything from advertisements for everyday objects in “Pompeian style” to scientific news. These themes are addressed in Renata Garraffoni’s chapter.
In the case of Mexico, news about the digs becomes part of daily life and embarks upon a unique journalistic voyage, reaching the readers of a variety of different newspapers as well as ordinary people, thanks to town criers or cicerones, as studied by Elvia Carreño Velázquez. On the academic front, there is also a tradition of bibliographic collecting of a more scientific nature, both in the public context of museums and other institutions, as analysed by Jesús Salas Álvarez, and in the private sphere. An example of the latter is found in the private archive of the Madrazo family, a subject explored by María Eugenia Cabrerizo Barranco.
The influence of the Vesuvian context on the visual arts is also a driving factor in this publication. Pompeii and Herculaneum not only inspire awe and aesthetic delight but also act as catalysts for artistic endeavour. Spain is no exception to the Pompeian trend, and its processes and peculiarities are studied by María Martín de Vidales García. Specific cases include José Manaut Viglietti, Manuel Domínguez and Joaquín Sorolla —explored, respectively, by Mirella Romero Recio, Cristina Martín Puente, and Ana Valtierra Lacalle— along with Afro-American artist Robert Duncanson, the subject of Daniel Expósito’s chapter. Additionally, the everyday realm of decoration is influenced by the so-called Pompeian style. As Ricardo del Molino García points out, this conception could be broadly applied and correspond to any reference to antiquity. Examples are numerous and can be found both in the private spaces of houses belonging to bourgeois society, and in urban spaces like theatres, banks and halls; parts of a myriad of appearances which create an identity link to the civilised world of Europe. This style also reaches various locations in the United States, a topic explored by Rosaria Ciardiello, highlighting the so-called “Pompeian rooms” and their quest for identification with the European world.
This publication serves as a link between worlds and time periods, a field of many nuances which leaves so much more to explore. In light of the potential which lies in this field of research, the RIPOMPHEI initiative in carrying out a digitalisation project to both document and geographically pinpoint a diverse range of places and objects associated with the Vesuvian style —presented at the end of the book through the work of Bujalance-Pastor, Muro-Subías and Santonja-Garriga and patronised by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid— is remarkable.
Thanks to a multi-faceted and diverse approach, the work of RIPOMPHEI and the contributors who made this volume possible has helped to enrich the studies on the reception of the Ancient World in the Hispano-American context, while simultaneously paving the way for future research.
Authors and Titles
- Pompeya y Herculano en el diario de viaje del cubano Eusebio Guiteras Font (1823-1893) [Federica Pezzoli]
- Pompeya en la experiencia de un intelectual chileno: impresiones de Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1871) [María Gabriela Huidobro Salazar]
- El mundo que yo vi: viajeras americanas en Pompeya y Herculano (1853-1908) [Laura Buitrago]
- “Demasiada felicidad”: el viaje a Pompeya y Herculano del pintor José Manaut Viglietti (1898-1971) [Mirella Romero Recio]
- Ilustrando al lector chileno: Pompeya y Herculano en la revista Zig-Zag a principios del siglo XX [Carolina Valenzuela Matus]
- Pompeya y el Vesubio en la prensa de Río de Janeiro (1870-1889) [Renata Senna Garraffoni]
- Pompeya en la Belle Époque hispanoamericana [Ricardo Del Molino García]
- Antigüedad y esclavitud en la pintura estadounidense del siglo XIX: La Pompeya de Robert S. Duncanson [Daniel Expósito]
- Séneca, Tácito y el pompeyismo en una pintura de Manuel Domínguez [Cristina Martín Puente]
- ¿Imaginamos Pompeya?: el interés del yacimiento vesubiano y su reflejo en la pintura española [María Martín de Vidales García]
- Nuevas reflexiones en torno a los dibujos y las pinturas supuestamente pompeyanas de Joaquín Sorolla [Ana Valtierra Lacalle]
- Pompei ed Ercolano: l’influenza delle scoperte vesuviane dall’Europa agli USA [Rosaria Ciardiello]
- “Lo que esté pasando aquí, ningún Dios puede detenerlo”: Pompeya en la vida cotidiana de México [Elvia Carreño Velázquez]
- Pompeya en la vida cultural de México: Dos momentos clave [Aurelia Vargas Valencia]
- El mito historiográfico de las ciudades intactas tras la erupción del año 79: Herculano, Pompeya y Estabia [M.ª del Carmen Alonso Rodríguez]
- El conocimiento y difusión de los descubrimientos en Pompeya y Herculano durante el s. XIX a partir de la documentación conservada en las instituciones españolas [Jesús Salas Álvarez]
- Pompeya, Herculano y la Antigüedad clásica en el archivo personal de los Madrazo [María Eugenia Cabrerizo Barranco]
- RIPOMPHEI y las Humanidades digitales en la Biblioteca de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid [Mar Bujalance-Pastor, Inmaculada Muro-Subías, Lola Santonja-Garriga]
Notes
[1] Reception and influence of Pompei and Herculaneum in Spain and Ibero-America (1738-1936).
[2] “Tuvieron su eco no solo en la sociedad española, sino también en la de los países americanos, y que este puede rastrearse a través de distintos medios: publicaciones periódicas, relatos de viajes, traducciones de obras, difusión de publicaciones sobre el tema en bibliotecas públicas y privadas, artes decorativas, obras de arte, novelas, teatro, óperas o cine, entre otros” (p. 11).
[3] “Experiencias personales en las ciudades vesubianas. Viajeras y viajeros entre dos mundos”.
[4] “Relatos entre dos mundos: la labor de la prensa americana en la recepción y difusión del mito pompeyano”.
[5] “Arte entre dos mundos”.
[6] “Pompeya y Herculano como modelos culturales de progreso”.
[7] “La recepción entre dos mundos: de la arqueología en archivos a la investigación en la era digital”.
[8] “Estoy bien: extasiado. […] ¡La facultad de admirar se embota! ¡Qué estatuas griegas! ¡Qué pinturas greco-romanas! Todo son ‘descubrimientos’ deslumbrantes” (p. 75).