At the year of 79 A.D., an ancient port in Italy, Misenum, was buried by the nearby volcano- Vesuvius. The volcano ashes destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. This scene is pictured in the background of Angelica Kauffman's painting. On the right side is the three-primary colored family group: Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger and his mother. Pliny the Younger is the son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo and Plinia Marcella, Pliny the Elder's sister. After Pliny the Younger's father died, he was raised by his mother. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped educate and raise him. After Pliny the Elder died in the Vesuvius eruption, he passed his estate to his nephew, who was later recognized as Pliny the Younger.

Vesuvius was erupting and the sea was churning. It seems to be the end of the world. Pliny the Younger's mother was afraid of the disaster and tried to use her veil to protect herself. She placed her hand on her son to make sure he was still there. Pliny the Younger, the boy in blue, looked pretty pissed. He was studying as he claimed in his letters to Cornelius Tacitus, while Pliny the Elder went to rescue other people in danger. Pliny the Elder asked if his nephew wanted to come, but "[Pliny the Younger] replied that [he] preferred to go on with [his] studies, and as it happened [Pliny the Elder] had himself given [Pliny the Younger] some writing to do." Pliny the Elder later died as a hero saving many people.

Perhaps Kauffman wanted to punish Pliny the Younger so she painted his figure with two left foot and a wrong perspective. There is also another version: Kauffman was lazy and made her less talented husband paint some parts of the painting, and the two left foot of Pliny the Younger was his "masterpiece."