Dramatic paintings of towns and cities on fire, usually at night, were popular during the Dutch Golden Age, and known as brandjes. Examples to well into the 19th century.
Smirnov
Five years into Nero’s reign as emperor, he had his mother murdered. It was all downhill from there: Rome burned, and so did many Christians.
From being a sub-genre of landscape painting in the Dutch Golden Age, to recording the catastrophic fire which destroyed most of Moscow when Napoleon occupied the city.
The Eclectic Light Company 