Dodwell first travelled to Italy and Greece in 1801 with Sir William Gell. He was taken prisoner of war by the Bonaparte government, but was allowed to travel to Greece on parole in 1805-6. He went on to spend some twenty-five years of his life in Italy, dividing his time between Rome, where he established his own museum of antiquities, and Naples, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius the drama and enormity of which he captures in the present watercolour. Dodwell was also an archaeologist and published several volumes on Greece, illustrated with fine drawings and watercolours. These publications are an important record of its architecture and archeology before 19th Century spoliation.
The present drawing was one of five large watercolours by Dodwell sold in Canada in 1996. Of these, two are comparable in terms of scale and engagement with the complex geology of mountains, craters and caves: A view from a Katabathra, Acrophia and Cave of Pan, near Vari.