Sir William Hamilton was the British ambassador to the court of Naples and Sicily from 1765 to 1800, as well as a passionate volcanologist. During his time in Italy, Mount Vesubio must have exploded several times, surely enough to leave a lasting impression.
So much so that in 1775 he designed a rotating device that, with mechanical movement and light, could give life to the burning magma represented in the watercolor of Pietro Fabris, “night view of a lava stream”. While experts are not sure if Hamilton ever advanced the multimedia device beyond the design phase, the preservation of their sketch detailed in the municipal library of Bordeaux has allowed engineering students in Australia to rebuild it 250 years later.
Based on a University of Melbourne videoThe reconstruction consists of a perforated tube that revolves around a light source, melting bright stains on the back of the watercolor paint. The light shines through the canvas so that people with respect to the work of art from the front see the light that transmits along the painted lava, as if it really moved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vmpa4yv_8
“It is a wonderful piece of scientific communication. People around the world have always been fascinated by the immense power of volcanoes,” said Richard Gillespie, senior curator of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne, in a university statement.
Recreation is now the centerpiece of the Grand Tour, an exhibition in the Baillieu Library of the University of Melbourne that explored the educational and tourist trip to Italy that many young British high -class men undertook in the 18th century.
“I always wanted to recreate the device, and suddenly the opportunity for the exhibition in the great tour in the Baillieu library gave me the opportunity to, a team commission team,” Gillespie explained in the video. “They are really trying to use mechanics and techniques and electronics of the 21st century to recreate with the same spirit of the device originally driven by the Hamilton clock and with Vela.”
Xinyu graduated students (Jasmine) Xu and Yuji (Andy) Zeng built the device for three months, incorporating wood and laser acrylic, electronic control systems and programmable LED lighting.
“It was a fantastic way of developing my practical problem solving skills,” Zeng said. “We still face some of the challenges Hamilton faced. The light had to be designed and balanced so that the mechanisms were hidden in view.”
For those of you in Australia, The Grand Tour The exhibition is scheduled until June 28, 2026, which also shows objects related to Hamilton’s time in Naples.
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