MURAL AND
MOZAICS OF
POMPEII &
HERCULANEUM
Illusion and Allusion
“Decoration allowed social orientation of two
types; first it helped steer them within the
house, guiding them round the internal
hierarchies of social space and second it
offered social orientation by contrasting one
house with another, indicating the level of
resources and social aspirations of the
household.”
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
• Four "Pompeian" styles of painted wall
decoration, which appear throughout
Italy and the Roman world, were
identified by A. Mau (Pompeii, Its Life
and Art, tr. F. W. Kelsey, London, 1899)
in the late nineteenth century.
The Four Styles
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Style I ("incrustation") originated in the early 2d century BC. It is an imitation of marble
veneering, in which the painted decoration resembles slabs of colored marble.
Style II ("architectonic") began in the early 1st century BC. This style opened up the wall
by providing an illusion of windows and porticos which looked outward onto imaginary
scenes, usually framed by painted columns and architraves. Painted architecture in this
style tended towards the heavy and substantial, with multi-point perspective sometimes
giving an Escher-like effect.
Style III ("ornamental") dates from the Augustan period at the end of the first century BC.
Abandoning Style II realistic architecture and open vistas, Style III closed up the walls to
create a "picture gallery" effect. Typically a large central picture would be flanked by a
smaller picture on each side. Architecture becomes attenuated and insubstantial, and
elongated candelabrae often replace the earlier painted columns.
Style IV appears in Pompeii following the earthquake of 62 AD, and continues in the
Roman world well into the second century AD. Style IV is heterogeneous, and incorporates
elements from all of the earlier styles. Architecture becomes more realistic, and the wall
tends to open up again, but not so far as in Style II. Developing from Style III, paintings are
given an illusion of portability by being set into trompe-l'oeil aediculae, screens, and
tapestries. Further developments include the imitation of stage backgrounds, and an
"intricate" style consisting of arabesques on white ground, as in the Domus Aurea of Nero
in Rome
Colours of the Rainbow
• The colors used in the wall paintings at Pompeii were made of
plain earth (ochre), minerals (carbonate of copper), and dyes of
animal or vegetable origins for Pompeian reds, blues, greens,
yellow, and black. Black resulted in a lustrous tone, easily
polished, and thus was used in the best rooms to give a
luxurious impression. The pigments were often supplemented
with a soapy limestone and bonding element to adhere them to
the wall. The finished painting was polished with wax to make
them shine and preserve them from the incessant bonbardment
of smoke and dirt.
Diagrammatic representations of
Mau’s Four Styles
• Roger Ling outlines four main points about Roman
wall painting (Ling 1992, 1 - 2):
• Ancient houses were painted much more than today.
Today we tend to think of individually commissioned
murals as reserved for only the very rich yet in
Pompeii and Herculaneum it was a daily occurrence.
• Quality varies from room to room. The more
important, and therefore more highly visible and
visited rooms, received better paintings.
• Paintings must be considered in the context of the
architecture settings in which they occur. What was
the function of the room? Was it well lit? How does it
work with pavements? With furniture?
• Wall paintings are a measure of the artistic taste and
social aspirations of the owner of the house.
First Style from the House of Sallust
House of the Ship Europa
Second Style
Second Style from
the House of Fannius Synistor
House of Julius Polybius
Second Style
Painting from the "Villa of Mysteries," Pompeii, thought to portray
initiation into the mysterious Dionysion cult.
3rd Style (Pinacothecae or picture gallery )from
House of the Vetti
House of Julius Polybius
House of the Chaste Lovers
Fourth Style from
The House of the Vetti
The walls of the
peristyle walkway
are decorated
with black panels,
edged in
Pompeiian red
with a yellow
background. The
black panels
alternately contain
still life and figure
paintings.
House of Fabbius Rufus
Pompeii
Fourth Style- House of Lucretius
Fronto
House of the Mosaic Atrium in
Herculaneum
WALL MOSAIC OF POSEIDON AND AMPHITRITE
House of Poseidon and Amphitrite Herculaneum c. 70
The wall mosiac, known as opus musivum, became popular in the first century A.D. and primarily
decorates grottoes and fountains. The brilliant mosaic of Poseidon and Amphitrite is on the wall of the
nymphaeum. A formal architectural setting surrounds the figures
House of the Faun
Sources of Evidence
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The Pompeian Wall Painting Styles:
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I Style:
House of the Trident, Delos
House of Sallust, Pompeii
Samnite House, Herculaneum
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II Style:
House of Griffins, Rome (first phase)
Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii
House of P. Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale
Villa of Poppaei, Oplontis
House of the Cryptoporticus, Pompeii
III Style:
Villa, Boscotrecase
House of Sulpicius Rufus, Pompeii
House of L. Caecilius Jucundus, Pompeii
House of M. Lucretius Fronto, Pompeii
IV Style:
House of Menander, Pompeii
Villa San Marco, Stabiae
House of Neptune, Pompeii
House of the Vetii, Pompeii