Along with the following lot possibly the pair commissioned directly from the artist by Charles Townley at the end of March 1768 for which the artist was paid 200 Neapolitan Ducats;
Possibly the works delivered at the end of April 1768 to Isaac Jamineau, British Consul to Naples, and thereafter sent to England;
Italian art market by 1994.

E. Beck-Saiello, Pierre-Jacque Volaire: dit le Chevalier Volaire, 1729-1799, Paris 2010, pp. 217-18, along with the following lot cats. no. P.39 and P.40, (both with incorrect dimensions of 106 by 125 cm), reproduced in colour pp. 82 and 83 respectively. Possibly also to be identified with the works listed p. 268, PM. 10 and 11.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external expert and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on fine original canvas has a fairly old but strong lining and stretcher. It seems to have been cleaned at some point in the last century, with some partial retouching. The main body of the painting is in remarkably pure, intact condition, the flowing lighter brushwork in the centre perfectly preserved, as is the lovely scene of fleeing figures lower down. For some reason a stretch across the top of the sky has been rubbed roughly enough to expose the white crests of the canvas weave. Another small patch of serious wear seems to have been focussed on the symbol or astrolabe at the top of the obelisk. Two patches of discoloured retouching can be seen in the dark sky at the top left corner and by the centre of the left edge. The figures on the terrace in the middle silhouetted against the fire have also been rather brashly strengthened, with minor strengthening of the outline of the vegetation lower down. Slight surface blanching in some darker places seems to stem from residual old varnish. Despite the distinct, undoubtedly worn areas, elsewhere the paint remains apparently almost untouched. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

On the basis of style Beck-Saiello (see Literature) dates the present and the following landscape to around 1768, when Volaire would have been coming to the end of his five years in Rome, or at the very beginning of his long Neapolitan period which was to last until his death some thirty years later.

Beck-Saiello proposes that the pair can probably be identified with the works mentioned in the correspondance between the artist and Charles Townley, the English antiquary, who is known to have visited Naples and Paestum in March 1768. The paintings were stretchered on 17 April 1768 and were to be delivered the following week, subsequently to be handed over to Jamineau, the British consul. Volaire was intially paid 100 Ducats for his work but had to wait one more year for the remaining 100 Ducats to be paid.

Whilst the majority of works from this period focus on capturing the marvel of the eruption of Vesuvius of 1767 or on describing the🅰 Mediterranean coast, the subject of the present pair is allegorically more complex. Though the works could well merely represent  the elements of 🥂water and fire, the typically classical subject matter of the fire of the Library of Alexandria and the Roman figures resting beside the waterfall adds weight to Beck-Saiello's theory that they were commissioned by a lover of antiquity and more specifically by Townley, who was a reknowned classsical enthusiast and whose collection today forms the core of the British Museum's Graeco-Roman pieces.