Art under the Roman Empire AD 14-337 III:
Wall painting and mosaic, TT12
Lecture 1: The ‘Pompeian Styles’ of wall
painting in the early empire
Janet DeLaine, Ioannou Centre for Classics and Byzantine Studies
Materials and techniques
Colours:
• white – pure lime; white clay; shells
• black – carbon (soot, roasted wine lees)
• red – natural red ochre (ferrous oxide);
cinnabar (mercuric oxide - blackens when
exposed to bright light)
• yellow – yellow ochre (ferric oxide –
turns red when exposed to heat)
• green – naturally green clay (‘terre vert’);
malachite and other copper ores
• blue – Egyptian blue glass frit (coloured
with copper and cobalt); ultramarine
(lapis lazuli)
• purple – burnt yellow ochre; Tyrian
purple (from molluscs, has to be freshly
prepared)
• liquid plant dyes also used for light and
bright colours, less permanent
Pompeii I.9.9: pigments ready to be
used in wall painting
Materials and techniques
Herculaneum, House of the Relief of
Telephus
Colours:
red
produced
by heat of
eruption
original
colour
• white – pure lime; white clay; shells
• black – carbon (soot, roasted wine lees)
• red – natural red ochre (ferrous oxide);
cinnabar (mercuric oxide - blackens when
exposed to bright light)
• yellow – yellow ochre (ferric oxide –
turns red when exposed to heat)
• green – naturally green clay (‘terre vert’);
malachite and other copper ores
• blue – Egyptian blue glass frit (coloured
with copper and cobalt); ultramarine
(lapis lazuli)
• purple – burnt yellow ochre; Tyrian
purple (from molluscs, has to be freshly
prepared)
• liquid plant dyes also used for light and
bright colours, less permanent
Pompeii I.9.9: pigments ready to be
used in wall painting
Materials and techniques
Colours:
• white – pure lime; white clay; shells
• black – carbon (soot, roasted wine lees)
• red – natural red ochre (ferrous oxide);
cinnabar (mercuric oxide - blackens when
exposed to bright light)
• yellow – yellow ochre (ferric oxide –
turns red when exposed to heat)
• green – naturally green clay (‘terre vert’);
malachite and other copper ores
• blue – Egyptian blue glass frit (coloured
with copper and cobalt); ultramarine
(lapis lazuli)
• purple – burnt yellow ochre; Tyrian
purple (from molluscs, has to be freshly
prepared)
• liquid plant dyes also used for light and
bright colours, less permanent
The cost of colours:
Pompeii, House of Fabius
Rufus, 1st c BC
‘…To [cinnabar] are added malachite, purple,
Armenian ultramarine…Because of their costliness
they are excluded from the specification, so that
they are charged to the client and not to the
contractor….’
Vitruvius, de arch.VII.5.8
Wall painting before AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Pompeian ‘First Style’, c. 150-90/80 BC:
• wall appears solid and flat, no illusion of depth
• moulded plaster in relief to imitate ashlar blocks,
pilasters, capitals and entablatures
• blocks painted in single colours or patterned to
imitate variegated marble
• continues in use for high status buildings,
especially on exteriors, at least until 4th c AD
cornice
frieze
isodomic courses
(upper zone)
string course
orthostates
string course
sockle/dado
Pompeii, House of Sallust
Wall painting before AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Pompeian ‘Second Style’, c. 90/80-20 BC:
• flat, painted but realistic architecture with perspective effects,
properly proportioned columns
• illusionistic/trompe l’oeuil openings through to porticoes or
shrines beyond, especially in the upper parts of the wall
in later phases, large figured scenes, illusionistic depictions of
gardens
• mythological panel paintings and/or small easel paintings
(pinakes), including still lives
• numerous theatrical associations (e.g. masks, architecture
like stage sets)
Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii
Villa of Livia, Prima Porta (nr Rome)
‘House of Augustus’, Palatine, Rome
Wall painting before AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Early Pompeian ‘Third Style’, c 20BC-AD25:
• flat, closed wall in solid colour; few colours, all-black,
-white, or -red schemes common
• symmetrical arrangement of walls, very flimsy
architecture (if any), little perspective, central
aedicules (pair of columns with pediment); miniaturist
detail
• painted mythological scenes and sacro-idyllic
landscapes fill panels
• ‘floating’ central motifs in panels, small scenes often
Egyptian (Pharonic) or villas and landscapes
Villa of Agrippa
Postumus,
Boscotrecase, c. 15 BC
Wall painting after AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Later Pompeian ‘Third Style’, c AD25-50:
• wider range of colour, including yellow, blue
• less flimsy architecture for aedicules,
opened through in upper zone with some
perspective
• smaller, more square painted mythological
and sacro-idyllic or villa landscape panels
• overall garden designs
Pompeii, House of Sulpicius Rufus, triclinium e
Pompeii, House
of the Fruit
Orchard, Black
cubiculum
Pompeii, House of Casca Longus, atrium
Wall painting after AD 14
Late ‘Third style’ case study: Pompeii, House of
Lucretius Fronto, tablinum, AD 40-50
Overall wall schemes and divisions
attic/
upper
zone
frieze
isodomic courses
string course
main
zone
orthostates
string course
predella
sockle
(dado)
sockle/dado
Main ‘First Style’
wall divisions
‘Third Style’ wall divisions (symmetrical scheme)
Overall wall schemes and divisions
attic/
upper
zone
isodomic courses
string course
main
zone
orthostates
string course
predella
sockle
(dado)
sockle/dado
Main ‘First Style’
wall divisions
‘Third Style’ wall divisions (symmetrical scheme)
Wall painting after AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Pompeii, House of the Vettii, Ixion Room
Pompeii, House of Pinarius Cerealis, exhedra
Pompeian ‘Fourth Style’, c. AD 50 – AD 79:
• eclectic mixture of overall schemes,
elements and motifs from Second and Third
Styles, wide range of systems
• upper zone and vertical panels usually
opened out with architectural schemes, solid
or fantastical, with figures
• mythological panels often smaller, floating
figures on plain background common
• increased use of stucco (relief plaster) in
wall decoration, and overall ‘wallpaper’
patterns
• flat panels often have curved edges and
repetitive ‘embroidery’ style borders, as if
tapestries/curtains rather than flat walls
• dado often as imitation marble panels
Wall painting after AD 14: the ‘Pompeian’ styles
Pompeii, House of the Old
Hunt, tablinum
Stabiae, Villa Varano,
Rm 9
Pompeii, House of the Gilded Cupids
Pompeian ‘Fourth Style’, c. AD 50 – AD 79:
• eclectic mixture of overall schemes,
elements and motifs from Second and Third
Styles, wide range of systems
• upper zone and vertical panels usually
opened out with architectural schemes, solid
or fantastical, with figures
• mythological panels often smaller, floating
figures on plain background common
• increased use of stucco (relief plaster) in
wall decoration, and overall ‘wallpaper’
patterns
• flat panels often have curved edges and
repetitive ‘embroidery’ style borders, as if
tapestries/curtains rather than flat walls
• dado often as imitation marble panels
Detail, ‘wallpaper’ design
Detail, ‘embroidery’ border
Wall painting at Rome: Nero’s Domus Transitoria, c. AD 55-64
Stabiae, Villa of
Verano, 3rd/4th Style
‘embroidery’ border
Painted and gilded stucco set with
semi-precious stones and glass
Strips of gilded bronze set with semiprecious stones, from the Horti Lamiani in
Rome
Wall painting at Rome: Nero’s Domus Aurea, AD 64-c. 80
Hierarchy of decoration in relation to amount of
marble and quality of paintings
Renaissance painting of wall from Rm 32
Rm 70 (a ‘residual’ space)
Rm 114
Rm 92 Cryptoporticus
Wall painting at Rome, Nero’s Domus Aurea, AD 64-c. 80
Rm 119 (Achilles on Skyros): upper wall and vault painted stucco, rest of wall marble
‘A recent artist was Famulus [or Fabullus], grand
and dignified, but also ornate and baroque… He
would paint for a few hours each day, and that in
the most formal manner, always dressed in a
toga, even on the scaffolding. The Domus Aurea
was the prison of his art, which is why no other
important examples are extant.’
Pliny, Natural History XXXV.120
Mock
window, Rm
85 off back
corridor
The mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
Villa Farnesina, late 2nd Style
House of the Priest
Amandus, early 3rd
Style
House of Lucretius
Fronto, late 3rd
Style
House of Fabius
Rufus, early 4th
Style
Themes and frequency of
mythological panels at Pompeii
Overall: c. 760 examples, 72% in 4th
style schemes
House of the Vettii, later 4th Style
J. Hodske, Mythologische Bildthemen in dem Häusen Pompejis (2007)
Love stories of the gods
Trojan cycle
Cretan cycle
Venus
Dionysus and retinue
Narcissus
Heracles
Rest, mainly other heroes
25%
14%
12%
11%
7%
7%
5%
19%
The mythological panels: content, style,
context, workshops
Narcissus (Ovid, Metamorphoses III.339-510)
52 examples, all 4th Style, 2 types (sitting, standing) with
7 variants
Motif I, variant I (House of
M. Lucretius Fronto)
Motif I, variant VII with nymph,
House of the Silverwork
Motif I, variant VI with eros,
House of Fabius Rufus
Motif I, variant V, House of
D. Octavius Quartio
The mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
Pompeii, House of the Dioscuri, Perseus
rescuing Andromeda, from 4th Style scheme
Pompeii, House of the Priest Amandus,
Perseus rescuing Andromeda, from 3rd
Style scheme
The mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
Pompeii, House of the Dioscuri, Perseus
rescuing Andromeda, from 4th Style scheme
Pompeii, VI.10.2.12, Perseus rescuing
Andromeda, from 3rd Style scheme
The mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
Pompeii, House of the Prince of
Montenegro, Perseus rescuing Andromeda,
from 3rd Style scheme
Pompeii, VI.10.2.12, Perseus rescuing
Andromeda, from 3rd Style scheme