WALL PAINTING
ROMAN ART HILARY 2016
MATERIALS AND
TECHNIQUES
Plastering
Left: Pompeii, I.6.4. House of the Iliac Shrine,
Room 6. AD 79
Below left: Pompeii, IX.5.9. Painting of a
plasterer at work (now lost).
Below right: Diagram of plaster and preparation
layers
Painting
Funerary relief of decorators, C2 AD.
Sens Museum
Pompeii, VI.1.10. House of the Surgeon
Pompeii, VI.8.23. House of the Small Fountain
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), crystalline
(haematite) • yellow –yellow ochre (ferric
oxide –turns red when exposed to heat)
• green –naturally green clay (‘terre vert’);
malachite and other copper ores
Pompeii, I.9.9. Pigments ready to be
used in wall-painting
• 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
Colours
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), crystalline
(haematite)
• 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
Original
colour
Red produced by
heat of the
eruption
Herculaneum, House of the
Relief of Telephus
Colours
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), crystalline (haematite)
• 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, House of Fabius Rufus, 1st century BC
WALL PAINTING
BEFORE AD 14
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 4thc AD
cornice
frieze
isodomic courses
(upper zone)
string course
orthostates
string course
socle./dado
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 life compositions
• numerous theatrical associations (e.g. masks, architecture like
stage sets)
Pompeii, House of the Silver Wedding
Rome (Palatine), House of Augustus
Pompeian ‘Second Style’, c. 90/80-20 BC:
• flat, painted but realistic architecture with
perspective effects, properly proportioned columns
• illusionistic/trompe l’oeuilopenings 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)
Pompeii, Villa of the Mysteries
Prima
Porta
(near
Rome),
Villa of
Livia
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
Boscotrecase, Villa of Agrippa
Posthumus, c.15 BC
WALL PAINTING
AFTER AD 14
Later Pompeian ‘Third Style’, c AD2550:
•
•
•
•
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
Late ‘Third style’ case study:
Pompeii, House of Lucretius Fronto, tablinum, AD 40-50
Overall wall schemes and divisions
Attic/
upper
zone
predella
cornice
frieze
main
zone
isodomic courses
(upper zone)
string course
orthostates
string course
predella
socle./dado
Socle/
dado
Main ‘First Style’ wall
divisions
Main ‘Third Style’ wall divisions
Pompeian ‘Fourth Style’, c. AD 50 –AD 79:
Pompeii, House of the Vettii, Ixion room
Pompeii, House
Pinarius Cerealis,
exedra
• 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
• flat panels often have curved edges and repetitive
‘embroidery’ style borders, as if tapestries/curtains
rather than flat walls
• increased use of stucco in wall decoration, and
overall ‘wallpaper’ patterns
• mythological panels often smaller, floating figures
on plain background common
• dado often as imitation marble panels
Pompeian ‘Fourth Style’, c. AD 50 –AD
79:
Pompeii, House of the Old
Hunt, tablinum
Stabiae, Villa Varano,
Room 9
Pompeii, House of the Gilded Cupids
• 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
• flat panels often have curved edges and repetitive
‘embroidery’ style borders, as if
tapestries/curtains rather than flat walls
• increased use of stucco in wall decoration, and
overall ‘wallpaper’ patterns
• mythological panels often smaller, floating
figures on plain background common
• dado often as imitation marble panels
Detail, ‘wallpaper’ design
Detail, ‘embroidery’ design
The Domus Transitoria and Domus Aurea.
Rome, Neronian period.
•
•
Domus Transitoria was built by Nero (in
order to connect the Palatine with the
Esquiline) but burned down in the great fire
of Rome in 64 AD
Replaced by the Domus Aurea or Golden
House (64-69 AD)
Esquiline Wing
Wall painting at Rome: Nero’s Domus Transitoria, c. AD 55-64
Painted and gilded stucco set with semiprecious stones and glass
Strips of gilded bronze set with semi-precious
stones, from the Horti Lamiani in Rome
Wall painting at Rome: Nero’s Domus Aurea, c. AD 64-80
Room 119 (Achilles on Syros): 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 HistoryXXXV.120
Mock window,
Room 85 off
back corridor
Wall painting at Rome: Nero’s Domus Aurea, c. AD 64-80
Hierarchy of decoration in relation to amount of marble
and quality of paintings
Room 79 (a ‘residual’ space)
Room 114
Renaissance painting of wall from
Room 32
Room 92 (Cryptoporticus)
MYTHOLOGICAL
PANELS
Mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
House of the Cryptoporticus,
2nd style
Villa Farnesina, late 2nd style
House of Lucretius
Fronto, late 3rd style
Themes and frequency of mythological
panels
Overall: c. 760 examples, 72% in 4th style
schemes
Pompeii, House of the Vettii, later 4th style
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%
Mythological panels: content, style, context, workshops
Pompeii, VI.10.2.12, Perseus rescuing
Andromeda, from 3rd Style scheme
Pompeii, House of the Dioscuri, Perseus
rescuing Andromeda, from 4th Style
scheme
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 VI with eros
(House of Fabius Rufus)
Motif I, Variant VII with nymph
(House of the Silverwork)
Motif I, Variant VI (House
of D. Octavius Quartio)
Mythological panels: arrangement
Pompeii, House of Jason, or House of the Fatal Loves
(IX.5.18), cubiculum e, late Augustan-Tiberian
B: Phaedra and nurse
A: Medea and her children
C: Helen and Paris