Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Hermitage at Vesuvius - unknown - T-Shirt

A pencil study of a plain stone hermitage with a cross and bell niche, set beside an arched gateway on the slopes of Vesuvius.

Visual Elements & Composition

The building sits squarely across the middle of the sheet, its flat front rising two storeys under a low roof topped with a small cross. A bell niche is set into the upper wall. A lower wing extends to the right, where a tall round-arched gateway shelters a horse standing in its shadow. A feathery tree rises at the right edge, balanced by a sloping hillside at the left. The drawing is built from simple, measured pencil lines and soft grey shading against warm buff paper, with pale white highlights lifting the masonry. A short handwritten inscription sits in the lower left corner, and the words "Hermitage of" are legible on the sheet.

Meaning & Symbolism

The cross and bell niche mark the building as a religious house set apart from the town. Hermitages like this one served as retreats for solitary or small communities, often in quiet, elevated places where a traveller could find shelter and a wide view of the surrounding country. Here that retreat stands on the slopes of Vesuvius near Naples, and the mountain shapes the landscape around it. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born in Manlius, New York, made the drawing as a direct record of a site met on his travels. It belongs with the travel drawings in his output, where a careful outline and restrained shading fix a place as it was seen along the route.

Why It Suits This Tee

A drawing of a single building, seen head-on, translates well to the centre of a chest, where its outline reads at a glance. The sober, withdrawn mood of the hermitage comes through in the clean lines and open paper, so the design keeps a quiet presence on the shirt rather than competing for attention. Wearing it puts a small, measured piece of 19th-century travel record in close view.