Death of Pentheus
House of the Vettii
The House of the Vettii
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Unlike many Pompeian houses, this house has
been extensively restored
Many wall paintings have been left in situ
Gives the visitor the chance to view the artwork
in its original surroundings
The Death of Pentheus is one panel of a wall in
a room with 3 major mythological paintings
Framed by trompe l’oeil (illusionist) windows
with views of elaborate buildings beyond
The “Pentheus Room” is only one of several
rooms in the House decorated with finely
executed paintings.
The Myth
Pentheus (king of
Thebes) banned the
worship of Dionysus in
his kingdom
 The God took his
revenge
 He inflicted temporary insanity on a group of female
worshippers (Maenads/Bacchantes), including the king’s mother
 He induced Pentheus to spy on them on a mountainside
 When discovered, the Bacchantes tear him to pieces
 His mother carries his head into the city triumphantly only to
regain her sanity and discover she murdered her own son.
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Statistics
Size: 1.04 metres x 1.04 metres
 Date: Probably 62-70 AD
 Style: Fourth-Style wall
 Location: House of the Vettii, Pompeii
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Composition
Very formal underlying structure
Four Bacchantes arranged in
roughly diagonal lines
 Reinforced by Pentheus’
outstretched right leg (echoes that
of the woman opposite)
 Forms an X shape
 Elegant, ordered structure in
contrast to the dramatic, out-ofcontrol actions of the women
>emphasises the temporary
dislocation of reason: real theme of
the painting
 Visual function of the X: direct
attention to Pentheus’ face
 All eyes on him, the action is
directed towards him
 His own glance is directed back
along part of the X
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Composition Continued
Perhaps, significantly,
the only figure outside
this X shape is that of
the woman with the
stone
 It is about to crash
down onto his head
 It has been suggested
that she is his mother
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Depth
Strong sense of depth:
-overlapping figures
-use of fainter lines/colours
for background figures
 Highly structured: woman
with rock forms apex of a
triangle. At the centre,
Pentheus himself
 The strong horizontal line
made by the arms of
Pentheus and the two
woman holding him,
creates a barrier/fence
between the foreground
and background action
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Emotional Tone
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All women look directly at
Pentheus; the painting is
structured so that the strong
horizontal & vertical lines
converge on his head
The weapons are raised. The rock
is about to come crashing down,
the scene is full of tension
Pentheus is aware that this is the
moment before his death
The formal structure emphasises
the moment of awful realisation
A moment of heightened intensity