Marie-dorothée Of Habsbourg-lorraine, Duchess Of Orléans (1867–1932) “pompeii By Night”

Marie-Dorothée of HABSBOURG-LORRAINE, Duchess of Orléans (1867–1932)
“Pompeii by Night”, July 8, 1901

Watercolor gouache and ink on paper, recto-verso (double-sided sheet)
22.9 × 17.6 cm

Born into a younger branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Archduchess Marie-Dorothée of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary, became Duchess of Orléans through her marriage in 1896 to Philippe d’Orléans, the Orléanist pretender to the French throne. Beginning in 1897, the couple undertook cruises in the Mediterranean aboard the yacht Maroussia. It is against this backdrop that this sheet, dated July 8, 1901, and from the series of watercolor menus created aboard the royal yacht, was produced.

The composition depicts a night view of Pompeii dominated by the erupting Mount Vesuvius, whose orange-red plume illuminates a gray-blue sky. In the foreground lies a dark expanse strewn with column drums and overturned stone blocks. In the center, a monumental arch frames the perspective; a fluted column stands to its left, surmounted in the background by a draped statue with a raised arm. Architectural ruins and Ionic capitals line the sides, set against a mountain range rendered in bluish wash. The corners are adorned with stylized plant motifs, and a cartouche at the bottom of the sheet bears the handwritten inscription “Pompeii by Night” along with the date.

The work is a private, amateur production, reflecting a widespread aristocratic pastime in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The double-sided nature of the sheet and the word “menu” confirm its decorative purpose in shipboard life.