View of Part of the Pathway of the Giants of Vals in Vivarais

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

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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