Oscar Begas: The Destruction of Pompeii
Archive Presentation
The Akademie der Künste awarded Oscar Begas a two-year fellowship to Rome in November 1852, based on his monumental painting The Destruction of Pompeii. This marked his artistic breakthrough. The work was severely damaged and put in storage during the Second World War. It returned to the Akademie’s art collection only ten years ago and has now been restored, thanks to funding from the Friends of the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States. Art historian Wolfgang Cortjaens talks about the origins and turbulent history of the work.