Art Institute of Chicago

Vue d'une partie du pave des Geants de Vals en Vivarais (View of part of the pathway of the Giants of Vals in Vivarais, taken toward the edge of the river of Volans on the side of the bridge named Bridon)

Edouard Gautier D'Agoty

Date

c. 1778

Medium

Etching and stipple engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Printmaker Arnault Éloi Gautier D’Agoty traveled with renowned geologist Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond on an expedition to the mountainous regions of Vivarais and Velay in south-central France. It was here that Faujas developed a theory on the origin of volcanoes, which was the subject of his seminal publication Research on the Extinct Volcanoes of Vivarais and Velay .Gautier D’Agoty’s richly detailed landscape, drawn from life under the geologist’s supervision, illustrates interlocking basalt columns, a volcanic rock whose hexagonal shape and vertical dimension are formed during the cooling process. The figure writing near the edge of the river may be Faujas recording his observations.

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