"Saint Agnellus drives away the Saracens from Naples" (1701; Vesuvius and "Castel Nuovo" in background) by Nicola Malinconico (Naples 1663-Naples 1726) - Ceiling of Donnalbina Church in Naples (22281733256), Nicola Malinconico

<a href="https://www. Flickr. Com/groups/volcans-du-monde/discuss/72157633313436519/#comment72157659999241076">www. Flickr. Com/groups/volcans-du-monde/discuss/7215763331. . </a> the thing that strikes me most in this 1701 canvas by nicola malinconico, on the ceiling of the donnalbina church in naples, is the image of vesuvius in the background. The scene depicts "sant'agnello expelling the saracens from naples" and, to identify the city, there is the volcano together with castel nuovo. Well, just seventy years earlier, in 1631, vesuvius had been literally torn apart by a terrible eruption. The painted images of the time show us the volcano much lower than monte somma. It will take centuries of successive eruptions to allow vesuvius to gradually "rebuild" itself and surpass the somma in height. In this painting vesuvius is even lower than somma, but already appears significantly "grown" compared to 1631.