Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138
Adrian Stähli, Professor of Classical Archaeology, Department of
the Classics, Harvard University The destruction of
Pompeii—buried under the ashes of erupting Mount Vesuvius—was
one of the most widespread and visually powerful motifs of 19th-
century historical painting. Although many, if not most, of
these paintings are now forgotten and are only rarely on display
in museums, they had a long-lasting impact on stage and ﬁlm
adaptations of Pompeii’s last days and still shape our visual
imagination of the doomed city. In conjunction with this
lecture, the 1926 silent movie Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (The
Last Days of Pompeii) will be shown at the Harvard Film Archive
on Sunday, September 23, at 4pm. Reception to follow lecture;
complimentary parking for lecture at the Broadway Garage, 7
Felton Street. The M. Victor Leventritt Fund was established
through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the
late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class